Illarionov: Ukrainian authorities are openly misinforming the whole world
The campaign inflated by the Ukrainian authorities, full of contradictions, with the announced timing of the Russian attack, is a disinformation campaign on the part of Kyiv.
Former adviser to the Russian President Andrei Illarionov, who emigrated to the United States and became a critic of the Kremlin, said this on air on the YiuTube channel “UkrLife,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
He assessed the interview of the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, to the American media, which published an infographic about the number of battalion-tactical groups of the Russian army located near the Ukrainian borders.
“It shows that in November the number of BTGs located along the Ukrainian border increased. According to the infographics, their number is 40 BTG. As a rule, one BTG consists of tanks, some kind of artillery and approximately 600 people. You can multiply and get an idea of how many there are, from the point of view of the Ministry of Defense. We get 24 thousand.
No, in words he [Budanov] said that 92 thousand were brought to the borders, and this figure is published. Even if these are very large BTGs of a thousand people, that’s 40 thousand. This is information that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense published to its closest ally to show what a dangerous situation the country is in,” Illarionov said.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that the infographic shows the BTG of the Russian Army not only for November, but also from the beginning of 2021.
“It turned out that in September there were 51 BTGs near the Ukrainian borders, 11 eleven more. Question: where was the same campaign in September that is happening before our eyes now? But in April, according to the same infographic, 53 BTGs were located. Neither in April nor in September was there an [information] campaign, which is observed now, with a smaller number of BTGs,” the ex-adviser noted.
As a result, he came to the conclusion that today there is nothing that would indicate an immediate threat to Ukraine.
“Those statements that the attack will take place in December, at Christmas, in January-February must be dismissed as verbal garbage. Such decisions are made by one person; by definition, this is not made in a month. And no one can know whether there will be such a decision or not. Even the person who makes such a decision does not know whether it will be accepted or not,” Illarionov explained.
In general, he called the entire information campaign on the part of the Ukrainian government “fake news”, “fake” and a “disinformation campaign” aimed at diverting attention from a new round of investigations into the scandalous story of the capture of the Wagnerites.
He also recalled that before this, the Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate denied information from the American media about the alleged accumulation of Russian troops.
“Well, it’s clear here - the next stage of the “Wagnergate” has occurred, and accusations against the Ukrainian authorities are acquiring a completely different weight and sound. For the government, this is extremely painful, and justifiably painful, and the current government has no arguments other than a threatening attack, intervention, aggression from Russia. That is why the motive of all the speeches was “let’s be friends,” “let’s join forces,” “let’s arrange a water truce until spring, and now let’s unite against Russian aggression,” Illarionov concluded.
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