For Russia's war with Ukraine, prominent NATO members such as the United States and France have taken the public stance of monitoring events from afar, without formally interfering in the conflict.
But that's not how Russia sees it.
Russia's defense ministry — led by Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Interagency Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response — has reportedly accused the U.S. and France of deploying specialists in Ukraine, with the intent of psychologically disparaging Russia's military operations in the neighboring country.
According to Mizintsev, the U.S. and France have been spreading disinformation about Russia in Ukraine, while also formulating an argument that Russian forces are committing certain war crimes.
Is there any validity to Russia's accusations?
Rebekah Koffler, an author and former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, believes Mizintsev's declaration could be a front for Russia launching its own disinformation campaign in the Ukraine war, as a means of covering up for various crimes, according to Fox News.
"This statement is almost certainly Russia's own disinformation campaign intended to hide Russia's hand in the atrocities that have been, are being, and will be conducted in the coming weeks by the Russian forces in Ukraine," Koffler said.
"The goal is to blame Ukraine, in order to confuse [the] Western audience about who exactly commits brutality in Ukraine," she added.
The Russian defense ministry's statement comes on the heels of Russia allegedly identifying and obliterating anti-aircraft missile systems in Ukraine, which had been supplied by an unnamed European country.
According to reports, the defense ministry said that Russian sea-launched Kalibr missiles destroyed four "high-precision" S-300 launchers on Sunday.
The missiles were apparently being concealed on the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
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