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Some American military analysts believe Russia has “prepositioned a group of operatives to conduct a false flag operation in eastern Ukraine,” | White House

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• Intelligence agencies monitoring Russian cyber operations against Ukraine believe Russia’s pattern of activity could signal a ground invasion of Ukraine within the next 30 days, the White House said Friday.

• The new time line is the latest sign of how imminent the Biden administration believes a Russian attack against Ukraine could be, and how urgent its effort to negotiate a peaceful settlement has become.

• In response to NBC’s questions at briefings this week, officials declined to say whether the U.S. would arm Ukrainian militias to counter a Russian invasion. But now they are signaling to the Russians that such a plan is under consideration.

• The U.S. has pledged to respond to any military incursion with unprecedented economic sanctions on members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

• But that could trigger retaliatory moves by Moscow against the West up to and including cuts in the energy that flows from Russia to the rest of the world. Russia is the largest supplier of oil, natural gas and coal to Europe, experts say.

SOURCE: CNBC