"At the end of the Cold War we disbanded our information unit, but the Russians didn't disband theirs, so we faced years and years of Russian disinformation," Truss claimed in an interview with The Mail on Sunday.
She alleged that since the start of February, there have been "40 pieces of Russian false information that have been put out" and that she plans to establish a new Russia-Ukraine Government Information Cell (GIC) that will focus on exposing "fake narratives."
"We have seen a doubling of the amount of disinformation activity in the last week, so we know that the Russians are gearing up," Truss said, once again warning of a looming "invasion" of Ukraine.
In the past few months, Western countries and Kiev have been accusing Russia of preparing for an alleged "invasion" of Ukraine. Moscow has denied these accusations, repeatedly stating that it is not threatening anyone and at the same time expressing strong concerns over NATO's military activity near the Russian borders, which it deems a threat to its national security. Russia has pointed out that rising fears of an "invasion" in Ukraine appear to be used as a pretext for advancing NATO's military presence further eastward in Europe.
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the ongoing turmoil is being deliberately promoted by the West to cover up Kiev’s sabotage of the Minsk agreements. Russia has repeatedly warned that the weapons supplied to Kiev by the West could end up being used against the people of the breakaway Russian-speaking region of Donbass.
The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) announced the evacuation of their citizens to Russia’s Rostov Region on Friday over the escalation of tensions on the contact line in southeastern Ukraine and amid fears of an attack by Kiev forces. DPR and LPR have been reporting continuing shelling of Donbas settlements by Kiev forces, in violation of the Minsk peace deal.