The United States said Thursday it had evidence that Moscow is planning to film a fake Ukrainian attack on Russia to use as a pretext to invade Ukraine. The United States had previously raised the possibility of Russia carrying out a so-called “false flag” operation, where a country uses enemy recognition marks to sow confusion.
The United States said Thursday it had evidence that Moscow is planning to film a fake Ukrainian attack on Russia in order to use it as a pretext to invade Ukraine, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Thursday.
“We believe that Russia could produce a very violent propaganda video, which would show corpses and actors playing the role of mourners, as well as images of places destroyed with Ukrainian or Western military equipment,” said John Kirby. during a press briefing. The United States had previously raised the possibility of Russia carrying out a so-called “false flag” operation, where a country uses enemy recognition marks to sow confusion. But this is the first time they’ve talked about videos in such detail.
“We have information that the Russians probably want to fabricate a pretext for an invasion, which is very much in line with their ways,” John Kirby said. “One of the options is that the Russian government, we believe, is preparing a fake attack by Ukrainian soldiers or intelligence agents against Russian territory or Russian speakers (from Ukraine),” he added.
This false attack would give Russia, which has massed more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders, a pretext to invade the country. “We have seen this kind of activity from the Russians in the past and we think it is important, when we have this kind of information, to make it public,” noted the spokesperson. He pointed out that such tactics are generally “approved at the highest levels of the Russian government”.