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| Tanks of pro-Russian troops drive along a road near the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine |
The United States accused Russia on Thursday of planning to short-circuit Ukrainian democracy by forcing the government from power and dismantling local authorities.
โWe have information that Russiaโs planning for its further invasion of Ukraine includes a forced capitulation of Ukraineโs democratically elected government, including dissolving all local municipal governments in Ukraine,โ U.S. Ambassador Michael Carpenter said in an address to the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperating in Europe (OSCE).
โNew governance structures were to be set up in โliberatedโ territories under Russian control,โ he added in the speech posted online.
Without providing evidence, he said Russian officials and pro-Moscow rebels were developing a new government and new constitution. Planning included โa moratorium disallowing legitimate Ukrainian leaders and those supporting Ukraineโs legitimate government from any leadership positionsโ.
He said the Kremlin may be preparing โsham referendaโ in areas of southern and eastern Ukraine it has seized since its invasion began on Feb. 24 in an attempt to legitimise its military action and assert control over these areas.
Russia says its โspecial military operationโ is designed to demilitarise its neighbour and remove fascists from power.
Last week a Russian general said Moscow wanted to take full control over southern Ukraine, despite previous assertions that it had no territorial ambitions.
