White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan responded to claims on Sunday that the United States is sparking panic in Ukraine about a potential Russian invasion, stressing that it is Russia’s closing in of the smaller nation that is “the source of the alarm.”The intelligence official appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” where he spoke to host Jake Tapper about what has become the biggest security crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War. The U.S. recently announced plans to evacuate most of its diplomatic staff from Kyiv and ordered 3,000 troops to Poland on top of the 1,700 who are on their way there in demonstration of American commitment to worried NATO allies.At a press conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that “the best friend for enemies is panic in our country. And all this information helps only to create panic. It doesn’t help us.”Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends the drills of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during his working trip to the Kherson region, Ukraine, on Feb. 12.Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via Associated PressWhen asked whether the U.S. is dangerously sparking panic in Ukraine, Sullivan said the White House is trying to “be transparent to American citizens that they should leave Ukraine immediately, because there will not be a military evacuation in the event of an invasion.”“Only one country has amassed more than 100,000 troops on the border of Ukraine. It’s not the United States. It’s Russia. That is the source of the alarm,” Sullivan said. “And we are trying to tell Ukrainians to prepare and be ready for this as well, as well as coordinate with our NATO allies and partners, so that we are able to defend NATO territory and deter any further Russian aggression should they move on Ukraine.” “But fundamentally, our view is that we’re not going to give Russia the opportunity to conduct a surprise here, to spring something on Ukraine or the world,” he continued. “We are going to make sure that we are laying out for the world what we see as transparently and plainly as we possibly can, and share that information as widely as we can. That’s what we have done. That’s what we will continue to do.”Sullivan recently also warned that U.S. intelligence shows that Russia could invade Ukraine within days, and before the Winter Olympics in Beijing end on Feb. 20. The national security adviser told reporters on Friday that intelligence shows military action could start with missile and air attacks, followed by a ground offensive. Russia has continued to deny that it plans to invade, despite its continued buildup of firepower on three sides of Ukraine.National Security adviser Jake Sullivan tells @JakeTapper that Russian forces are in a place where an invasion could take place before the end of the Beijing Winter Olympics.“A major military action could begin by Russia in Ukraine any day now,” he says. #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/Zlxmx5mhpU— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) February 13, 2022
“The hysteria of the White House is more indicative than ever,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, according to The Associated Press. “The Anglo-Saxons need a war. At any cost. Provocations, misinformation and threats are a favorite method of solving their own problems.”The Defense Department has publicly warned that Russian operatives were planning a false-flag operation, a plan in which the country would stage a fake attack on itself to have an excuse to intervene in Ukraine. Earlier this month, intelligence officials alleged there is a Russian plot to fabricate a graphic video ― allegedly staged with explosions and corpses ― as pretext for an attack on Ukraine. The claim received scrutiny from some reporters who called out the White House for not providing evidence for such a strong allegation.“First, we’re not putting forward this intelligence to start a war, which has happened in the past, Jake. We are putting forward this intelligence to stop a war. And I think that fundamentally gives it, at the outset, a different level of credibility,” Sullivan said Sunday, adding that a false-flag operation is “consistent with the Russian playbook.”Russia indeed has a history of using false-flag operations, one example being in 1968 when the Kremlin used its intelligence service to create false-flag incidents to justify Soviet military intervention in Czechoslovakia.“And then, third, if you look at Russian media, they are laying the groundwork for a potential pretext by raising the possibility of attacks by Ukrainian forces on either Russians themselves or Russia’s proxy forces in the Donbass,” he continued. “And then, finally, what we have said, stood at the podium and shared with our allies that we have information that we have gathered through intelligence that indicates that there is active planning for this. And it’s not just the United States saying it. We have our NATO allies stepping out and saying it as well, because they have been able to review that intelligence, assess its credibility and reach the same conclusion we have reached. So, I do think the world should be prepared for Russia staging a pretext and then launching a potential military action,” he said.Lithuania’s military aid including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, delivered as part of the security support package for Ukraine, is unloaded from a 17 Globemaster III plane at the Boryspil International Airport outside Kyiv on Feb. 13.Valentyn Ogirenko via ReutersOn Saturday, President Joe Biden held an hourlong call with Vladimir Putin in which the White House said he told the Russian president that invading Ukraine would cause “widespread human suffering” and that the West was committed to diplomacy to end the crisis but “equally prepared for other scenarios.”“There was no fundamental change in the dynamic that has been unfolding now for several weeks, but we believe that we have put ideas on the table that would be in our and our allies’ interest to pursue, that would enhance European security, and that would also address some of Russia’s stated concerns, just as we have been clear that we are committed to upholding Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and the rights of states to choose their own security arrangements,” said a senior administration official who briefed reporters about the call. “But it remains unclear whether Russia is interested in pursuing its goals diplomatically as opposed to through the use of force,” the official said.Russia has been in aggressive conflict with Ukraine since 2014, when the latter nation’s Kremlin-friendly leader was ousted by a popular uprising that has demanded a democracy more aligned with the West. Moscow responded by annexing the Crimean Peninsula and backing a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has killed over 14,000 people.France and Germany helped broker a 2015 peace deal that helped halt large-scale battles. However, regular clashes have continued with efforts to reach a political settlement having stalled. The current tensions with Russia come as NATO countries deliberate whether to allow Ukraine to enter the alliance ― a move Russia sees as a major security threat due to its shared borders with Ukraine.