The New York Times: Russia plans to fake an attack on its military as a pretext to invade Ukraine

US intelligence officials said they have evidence of how Russia is planning to film a propaganda video showing a faked attack on its troops. This is reported by Western media, in particular, The New York Times and USA Today. It is noted that such a video can be used as a pretext for the invasion of Ukraine.

Senior administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told USA Today that the video would likely feature re-enactment of the explosion with corpses, as well as actors portraying mourners, destroyed buildings and military equipment. The latter will look like it belongs to Ukraine or neighboring countries.

According to US officials, Russia, using this video, will accuse Ukraine of “genocide” and thereby justify the attack on Ukraine.

At the same time, writes The New York Times, US officials will not publish direct evidence of the “Russian plan” so as not to compromise their sources.

According to the newspaper, the head of the US intelligence community, Avril Haynes, and other representatives of the US authorities held a briefing on this topic for members of Congress today. The United States also shared information with allies.

Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, in turn, commenting on media reports, said that this is not the first time that materials about Russia’s plans for an “invasion” of Ukraine have been published in the United States.

“Earlier, similar things were also voiced. But nothing came of it,” he told TASS.

Earlier, the Pentagon reported that Russia has concentrated more than 100 thousand troops on the border with Ukraine, while Russian President Vladimir Putin insists that he has no plans for a war with Ukraine. According to the representative of the department, John Kirby, “additional Russian units continue to arrive at the Ukrainian border, including in recent days.” At the same time, Kirby noted that “there is no talk of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine,” since “the Russian leadership has not yet decided on such a scenario for further actions.”

Let us recall earlier that there are 120,000 Russian servicemen near the borders of Ukraine, said Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, citing “relevant reports from the relevant structures.”