[chriselles]

I’m just not buying the Russian invasion story.

Putin profits most from tension that maximises profit and influence.

So optimise for tension beneath the threshold of war.

Because war is bad for business. And business is booming selling energy to the EU.

It’s not hard to allow a “kill list” to be intercepted because it’s not going to be shared publicly due to the need to protect sources and methods.

But it’s easy to dangle it out and hook a sucker fish to create tension and potential embarrassment for the west.

[csee]

I see it as deterrence, even if it is a completely fabricated claim by the US.

If you can convince Ukrainians that a Russian invasion would result in these kind of terrible things happening, then they're much more likely to put up a bloody fight. This then increases the cost and risk of Russia invading Ukraine in the first place, which serves as deterrence.