Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Associate Director Alina Polyakova writes for Politico Europe on the Atlantic Council’s report Hiding in Plain Sight, which reveals where and how Russian weapons are entering Ukraine:

Russian President Vladimir Putin likes being in the limelight. So he no doubt enjoyed the festivities of April 16, when he took part in an annual Kremlin tradition: for four hours, he answered carefully prepared questions on live television from pre-screened callers. During the marathon call-in show, Putin warned the West to not make an enemy out of Russia, denied the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine, and justified Russian foreign policy in Crimea to millions of viewers worldwide.

He lied to them all. “I can tell you outright and unequivocally that there are no Russian troops in Ukraine,” he told the show’s host. As a former Soviet KGB agent, Putin has honed his skills of deception and historical revisionism. But unlike in the Soviet days, in the twenty-first century, it is not so easy to conceal facts hiding in plain sight.

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