"According to information received by the SVR, the leadership of the special services and the military command of the Kiev regime, at the instigation of their handlers from the United States, are working on a scenario for yet another inhumane provocation. It is proposed to stage a Russian missile strike on a children's institution in Kiev-controlled territory — a hospital or kindergarten — with a large number of victims," the SVR said in a statement.
Wide media coverage of this tragedy is envisaged, with the involvement of leading international media outlets, the statement read.
Kiev hopes to use this new provocation to justify the West's decision on lifting restrictions on the use of missile weapons for strikes deep into Russia, the SVR said.
"At the same time, the Americans are planning to use the provocation to intensify the pressure campaign they have already launched on Iran, as well as North Korea, for allegedly supplying Moscow with ballistic missiles. It is supposed to claim that these are the types of ammunition used in the attacks on the children's institution," the statement said.