US: Russia plans false attack on its forces as a pretext to invade Ukraine

The United States has obtained intelligence indicating that the Russian government developed a plan to stage a fake attack on its forces on Russian soil to provide a pretext for military action against Ukraine, a senior US official said Thursday. administration of President Joe Biden.

The plan included the production of a propaganda video that would show staged explosions and use dead bodies and actors to portray the wounded, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The plan, which was revealed in declassified intelligence shared with Ukrainian authorities and European allies in recent days, is the latest allegation by the United States and Britain that Russia is planning to use false evidence as a pretext. to start a war against Ukraine.

In December, the White House accused Russia of conducting a so-called “false flag” operation to justify an invasion. Britain recently named specific Ukrainians whom it accused of having links to Russian intelligence officials who planned to overthrow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The United States also released a map of Russian military locations, detailing how officials believe Russia will try to attack Ukraine with up to 175,000 troops.

The United States has not provided detailed information to support the intelligence findings. The official indicated that the Biden administration is preparing a concentrated effort to make the information public in the hope that it will dissuade Russia from going ahead with an invasion of Ukraine.

The White House is concerned that the video, if released, could provide Russian President Vladimir Putin with “the spark” they believe he is seeking to launch military action with credible justification.

The United States revealed the information as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered to mediate talks between Russia and Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) warned that Moscow continues to build up forces, with more soldiers and military equipment deployed. in neighboring Belarus than at any other time in the last 30 years.

Erdogan, who was close to Putin but at times had a rocky relationship with the Russian leader, said Turkey was “willing to do its part to put an end to the crisis between two friendly nations that are its neighbors in the Black Sea”.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg expressed concern on Thursday that Russia continues to mobilize troops around Ukraine and now has its largest deployment of soldiers and military equipment to Belarus in 30 years.

Russia now has more than 100,000 troops deployed near Ukraine’s northern and eastern borders, raising the possibility of Moscow invading the country as it did in 2014 and destabilizing the Ukrainian economy. Russian authorities deny having any invasion plans.