Russian President Vladimir Putin and his closest friend, President Alexander Lukashenko from Belarus, revealed a new theory Tuesday on who was responsible for murders.

But it was not. They claimed that the Russian soldiers witnessed, satellite imagery and forensic proof all indicated that the Russian troops went on a long-running rampage of looting, killing, and even extortion.

Lukashenko claims that the real perpetrators were British agents who carried out a “psychological operation” in a leafy area of Kyiv.

Lukashenko, Putin and others spoke at an orchestrated press conference held at Vostochny’s space launch site in Russia’s Far East. This was Putin’s first appearance in public outside Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2014.

Lukashenko stated that he had spoken to Putin about the details of “the psychological operation in Bucha performed by the British.”

The Belarusian autocrat told reporters then that the Russian Federal Security Bureau would supply them with materials to prove his absurd claims.

Lukashenko claimed that if addresses, passports or license numbers are needed, the FSB is able to provide such information. According to an NBC translation.

Putin claimed that Lukashenko gave him papers on Bucha’s murders that he had handed to the FSB.

Reporters were asked by him how he came to the settlement and made conditions for organizing this provocation. The FSB has relevant intercepts.”

On Tuesday, the British Embassy in Washington didn’t immediately reply to my request for comment on Lukashenko’s claims.

Putin said that Bucha’s deaths were fake, and the Kremlin claims the Kremlin staged the discovery of hundreds more bodies.

On Tuesday, however, it appeared that both the Russian and Belarusian secret services were promoting the notion that Great Britain is the conspirator.

During the failed attempt to seize Kyiv, the Russian forces took over many towns in Ukraine like Bucha. Russian troops took control of Bucha in northern Ukraine when it was clear that the Kremlin couldn’t capture the city. They left behind an arc of destruction and bloodshed.

More than 400 people have been killed in Bucha since the Russians retreated, with many others suffering from torture, executions, and rape. An international group was established almost instantly to record alleged war crime. Over a dozen other countries support the effort.

Putin spoke in Vostochny and used whataboutism as well as misinformation to divert attention from the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers.

At one stage, he claimed that NATO had also contributed to civilian deaths during combat. He suggested that Western anger at Russia for civilian deaths in Bucha is hypocritical.

He then compared Bucha with cities in Syria, where Russian-backed President Bashar Al Assad used chemical arms during a civil war in 2013Later, rebels were accused of gassing their supporters to get Assad’s attention.

While Putin and Lukashenko concocted elaborate plots to cover up the atrocities in Syria, this week the international community grew more determined as evidence of possible war crimes committed by Russian troops emerged.

Hours later, after Putin’s and Lukashenko had met and made bizarre claims about British agents to each other, President Joe Biden declared that the same evidence seemed worse than war crimes. He said it was genocide.

Biden, who spoke late Tuesday evening, said that it was becoming more and more obvious that Putin seeks to destroy the Ukrainian idea. It is becoming increasingly clear. The evidence is more compelling than it was last week. It is becoming more evident that Russia has done terrible things in Ukraine.

Biden, who was returning to Washington from Iowa after spending a day there, said: “And now we’re only gonna learn more about the devastation. And we’ll let lawyers decide whether or not it qualifies internationally but it sure feels that way to me.”