provokatsiya

Certainly the organization formerly known as the KGB has some expertise in destabilizing foreign countries, particularly through the use of provokatsiya. One of those non-Slavic words that nevertheless appear in every Slavic language — prowokacja in Polish, provokace in Czech — a provokatsiya is technically a "provocation." But it has a narrower meaning as well: a political event or action that the authorities, through their secret services, create to serve their own purposes. A staged crisis; the publication of outrageous documents, authentic or fake; a rapidly organized political movement of the far right or far left; an anonymous bomb explosion: All of these can be provokatsiya. Putin, himself trained in KGB methods, knows this very well.

2014 February 27, Anne Applebaum, “The pressure is on Ukraine”, in Washington Post, archived from the original on 28 Mar 2014