🇺🇦🇷🇺 KREMLIN DENIES WANTING ALL OF UKRAINE – AND NOBODY BELIEVES THEM
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called U.S. intelligence assessments “absolutely not true” after Reuters reported six sources confirming Putin wants all of Ukraine plus former Soviet territories including NATO members.
Putin’s denial credibility: February 2022 claimed no invasion plans three days before tanks crossed. Denied Wagner Group existence while Prigozhin ran private army. Denied Crimea annexation plans while green men seized parliament.
Denied targeting civilians while leveling Mariupol. Perfect track record of lying.
U.S. intelligence going public matters more than denial. Six sources leaked to Reuters means deliberate signal- either justifying continued Ukraine aid to incoming Trump admin, or warning European NATO members Russia won’t stop at Donbas. Probably both.
The Baltic states- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania- are former Soviet republics now in NATO. So is Poland’s eastern territory.
Moldova’s next obvious target after Ukraine consolidation. U.S. intel is explicitly saying Putin views NATO Article 5 as bluff worth calling eventually.
Trump-Putin meeting gets complicated if this assessment holds.
Either Trump accepts “peace deal” giving Putin eastern Ukraine as stepping stone, or Trump-era NATO has to demonstrate credible deterrence in Baltics.
Middle ground doesn’t exist when opponent wants empire restoration.
Peskov can deny all he wants. Maps don’t lie about what Russia considers “historically Russian lands.”
Source: Reuters