Putin 'trying to muddy the waters,' says Former deputy secretary general of NATO

Biden to deliver remarks on ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict

Former Deputy Secretary General of NATO Rose Gottemoeller told FOX Business that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "trying to muddy the waters" as tensions boil over in Ukraine.

ROSE GOTTEMOELLER: Vladimir Putin really loves to stir the pot and make things as murky as possible. Last night, we were hearing that Russia had already sent peacekeeping troops in. It was on that basis that, and he signed an agreement this morning with both the Donetsk and Luhansk leaders saying that they need that kind of security support, their friendship, so-called friendship agreements, that he will now be providing security support. So he's put in place his fig leaf of a legal measure to provide what he calls peacekeeping troops. 

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But this morning, I'm reading that what is happening is that the tanks that we see going in are unmarked. They're not marked clearly as Russian army vehicles. And that is exactly what has been happening in Donetsk and Luhansk over the past eight years since the invasion of Crimea. They have been destabilizing the Donbas, but doing so with some plausible deniability. The equipment there, the weapons systems, the uniforms. Nothing is attributable to the Russian armed forces, although we know where the support is coming from. So I fear that's a bit of what's going on now. He's trying to muddy the waters in this way. 

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