“As part of this fake attack, Russia will produce propaganda videos,” the US said. (Representative)
Washington:
The Pentagon said Thursday it has evidence of Moscow’s plan to film a fake Ukrainian attack on Russia to justify a real attack on its pro-West neighbour.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said: “We have information that the Russians are trying to make excuses for aggression.”
He told reporters that Washington believes the Russian government is planning an attack “against Russian sovereign territory, or against Russian-speaking peoples” by Ukraine’s military or intelligence forces.
The latter may refer to the large Russian-speaking population inside Ukraine.
“As part of this mock attack, we believe that Russia will produce a very graphic propaganda video, featuring corpses and actors portraying images of mourners and the places destroyed,” he said.
This could allow Moscow, which has given more than 100,000 troops and heavy offensive weapons an excuse to attack Ukraine’s border.
– Question of evidence –
Neither Kirby nor State Department spokesman Ned Price, who also commented on the alleged plan, offered evidence to support the claim.
Kirby said part of the plan would be that the Ukrainian military equipment used in it is supplied by the West, he said, further justifying Russian retaliation against Ukraine.
“We have seen this type of activity by the Russians in the past and we believe it is important when we see it that way,” Kirby said.
Kirby said of the alleged plan, “I would just say that our experience is that very few of this nature are not approved at the highest levels of the Russian government.”
Price said the alleged plan is “one of several options the Russian government is developing as a fake excuse to launch and potentially justify a military offensive against Ukraine.”
He said the United States did not know whether Moscow had decided to proceed with the plan.
“Russia has indicated that it is ready to continue diplomatic negotiations as a means to de-escalate, but such actions suggest otherwise,” Price said.
Asked if there was any evidence of such a plan, Price said it came from US intelligence, but did not provide further details.
“I won’t tell you what we have, but I will leave it to your decision,” he told reporters.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called the US claim of Moscow’s false flag operation “clear and shocking evidence of Russia’s unprovoked aggression and covert activity to destabilize Ukraine”.
“The only way forward for Russia is to de-escalate, avoid and stick to the diplomatic path,” he said in a tweet.
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