Putin’s invasion plans were secret even to Lavrov - Guardian
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not know the details of Russia's full-scale invasion until the last moment.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by The Guardian newspaper, citing estimates by the US Central Intelligence Agency.
The article notes that the then head of the Presidential Office, Andrii Yermak, who declined to be interviewed for the article, was one of the few Ukrainian officials who regularly communicated with the Russians.
In particular, he often communicated with Putin's deputy chief of staff, Dmitry Kozak. Kozak probably assured Yermak that the US warnings about a full-scale invasion were absurd — and he himself believed this to be the case.
Only a few knew Putin's plans
According to CIA estimates, only a few non-military officials knew the details of Putin's plans. At the same time, Kozak, along with Sergey Lavrov and Putin's long-time press secretary Dmitry Peskov, remained in the dark, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Even a week before the full-scale invasion, most of the Russian elite had no idea what was coming.
"Someone high up in the Kremlin called me and said, 'There are a lot of military personnel around Putin, the atmosphere is tense, something is happening, but we don't know what,'" one of the newspaper's sources said.
