Russian MP says Ukraine's invasion was planned a year ago

Demonstrators gather to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine outside the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC. Pic/ AFP

A Russian MP has said Moscow started planning for an invasion of Ukraine 12 months ago, BBC reported.

"We did not prepare this, this operation spontaneously," State Duma member Rifat Shaykhutdinov said on state-controlled Channel One TV on Wednesday.

"It had been in preparation for a year, maybe more. We understood what [was happening] and had been warning them in advance," he said in remarks on Channel One's daily talk show Time Will Tell.

He suggested that Russia would have come under attack had it not invaded.

"As soon as intelligence data arrived... that we would beat them by two days by attacking, of course we are defending our citizens there above all."

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.