The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that Kiev, with Western backing, is planning to shell churches amid Orthodox Easter celebrations in southern and eastern Ukraine, and then pin the blame on Moscow.

“Nationalist battalions will form more than 70 mobile groups equipped with mortars with the goal to shell Orthodox churches on Easter Sunday,” Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, said.

Orthodox Christians will celebrate Easter on April 24. According to Mizintsev, the attacks are planned in the Zaporozhye, Nikolaev, Odessa, Sumy, and Kharkov regions. The plan is to later “accuse Russian troops of mass murder of civilians on this holy day,” he stated.

Mizintsev added that “several Western countries” were aiding Kiev in the preparation of “sophisticated monstrous provocations with numerous victims.”

The Defense Ministry said it has evidence of the claims. It called on the UN, OSCE, and the International Committee of the Red Cross “to influence the Kiev regime” to prevent the alleged planned attacks.

Source: RT