Pro-Russian politician from Ukraine causes UK alarm

The British government on Saturday accused Russia of seeking to replace Ukraine’s government with a pro-Moscow administration, and said former Ukrainian lawmaker Yevheniy Murayev is being considered as a potential candidate. Murayev is head of the small pro-Russian party Nashi, which currently has no seats in Ukraine’s parliament.

Speaking on his own Nash TV channel last week, Murayev suggested Moscow would never return Russian-annexed Crimea or the eastern region of Donbas, which is under control of Russia-backed separatists, to Kyiv. He also described that NATO as a "geopolitical baton" of the United States.

"NATO isn't a way of life, (it won't guarantee good) standards of economy," Murayev said. Britain’s Foreign Office also named several other Ukrainian politicians it said had links with Russian intelligence services. It’s unclear what means Britain believes Russia might use to install a friendly government in Kyiv.

The U.K. government made the claim based on an intelligence assessment, without providing evidence to back it up. It comes amid a war of words between Moscow and the West over Russia’s designs on Ukraine. Britain has sent anti-tank weapons to Ukraine as part of efforts to bolster its defenses against a potential Russian attack.