That's part and parcel of Putin's Chekist paradigm of obvious aggression combined with denials and disinformation. The idea is to create enough doubt and lies

That's part and parcel of Putin's Chekist paradigm of obvious aggression combined with denials and disinformation. The idea is to create enough doubt and lies that people feel like the truth is unknowable. But everyone still gets the message that Putin can and will kill you if he so wishes.