Of course the Russian state is lying. You can tell because what they’re saying makes no sense. Also because they’re the Russian state. They have an explicit strategy that they call the firehose of disinformation.

As for the other story, I mean it might make sense if it’s a false flag, who knows? The Russian state can send people to invade Ukraine, it can send people to burn down a couple of buildings.

Edit: I am making a note of this typo edit just to highlight the fact that “sfate” is a funny word.