However, according to one official, these are intercepted communications and surveillance of people's movements. RBC sent a request to the department information and mass communications of the Ministry of Defense. This was stated by the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov to TASS. The New York Times also reported that the administration of US President Joe Biden accused Moscow of sending saboteurs to eastern Ukraine for a provocation “that could provide Russian President Vladimir Putin with a pretext to order an invasion of some regions of Ukraine or the entire country.”
The publication noted that the White House did not release the evidence it gathered to support its accusation. Earlier, CNN, citing an American official, reported that the United States had information that Moscow was preparing “a task force to conduct an operation in eastern Ukraine under a false flag.”
The source said that this group is trained in urban warfare and the use of explosives to commit sabotage. Peskov called unsubstantiated publications about “Russia's operation in Ukraine under a false flag” CNN and NYT reported that the United States has evidence that Moscow is preparing a provocation to conduct an operation in eastern Ukraine “under a false flag.” The Kremlin considered these publications unconfirmed and unfounded

Dmitry Peskov
New publications in the Western media about the allegedly impending “Russian provocation” in Ukraine are unfounded. Video
On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent proposals on security guarantees to the US and NATO. Negotiations on Russian proposals with Washington and NATO took place on January 10 and 12, but the parties failed to agree.

Putin said that Moscow's military-technical response to the refusal of the United States and NATO to consider proposals for security guarantees could be “very different.” “It depends on the proposals that our military experts will make to me,” — he concluded. Earlier, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported that Russian special services were preparing provocations against members of the Russian Armed Forces in order to blame Kiev for this. Since the fall of 2021, a number of Western politicians and the media have been reporting on the accumulation of Russian military forces near the Ukrainian border and Russia's plans to “invade” to Ukraine. Subscribe to FB RBC Get news faster than anyone else

Источник rbc.ru In particular, Moscow proposed not to deploy NATO military bases on the territory of the former USSR and refuse to expand the bloc to the east. According to the source of the channel, the Biden administration believes that Russia can drop the saboteurs in the weeks before the “military invasion”, which could begin between mid-January and mid-February. “Russia is laying the groundwork for being able to fabricate a pretext for an invasion,” — Sullivan stated. CNN recalled that the day before, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan reported on Washington's relevant intelligence. “The US is concerned that the Russian government is preparing for an invasion of Ukraine that could lead to widespread human rights violations and war crimes if diplomacy does not achieve its goals,” an American official told BuzzFeed News. Moscow has repeatedly denied such accusations. “Until now, all these statements were unfounded and have not been confirmed by anything,” he stressed. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the country's peaceful foreign policy, but indicated that Moscow has the right to “ensure its security.” He stated that the Russian side needed legal guarantees of NATO's non-expansion to the east.