Russian presidential adviser Anton Kobyakov has claimed that Ukraine was allegedly planning to invade Russian territory on March 8, 2022. According to his account, Moscow “beat Kyiv to it” by launching its full-scale war on February 24.
The Moscow Times reported this, citing Kobyakov’s interview with the Russian state news agency TASS.
Putin’s adviser claimed that at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russian troops allegedly discovered documents concerning preparations for an attack on Russia at the abandoned headquarters of a Ukrainian territorial defence brigade. He provided no evidence to support the allegation.
“We beat them to it by two weeks,” Kobyakov said.
He alleged that Ukraine had intended to “present war as a gift” for International Women’s Day but received a “black mark” because of the Russian leadership’s “foresight”.
Kobyakov also cited Vladimir Putin’s previous statement that “June 22 will never happen again” in Russian history. He was referring to Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.
The Russian presidential adviser also repeated familiar accusations against Western countries. He claimed that the West had merely pretended to support the Minsk agreements while actually arming Ukraine and preparing it for a military resolution of the conflict in Donbas.
Kobyakov also described the decision to establish the Eastern Economic Forum in 2015 as “absolutely correct”. According to him, Russia was already preparing at that time for worsening relations with Western countries and tougher sanctions over its occupation of Crimea and the war in Donbas.
