The Pentagon on Thursday accused Russia of planning a graphic “false flag” operation in Ukraine that would justify an invasion into the former Soviet state – a bold allegation at a time of already heightened tensions in the region.
“The Russian government, we think, is planning to stage a fake attack by Ukrainian military or intelligence forces against Russian sovereign territory or against Russian-speaking people to, therefore, justify their action,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday afternoon.
“As a part of this fake attack, we believe that Russia would produce a very graphic propaganda video, which would include corpses and actors that would be depicting mourners and images of destroyed locations as well as military equipment at the hands of Ukraine or the West – even to the point where some of this equipment would be made to look like it was Western-supplied-to-Ukraine equipment,” Kirby said.
The Washington Post first reported the U.S. assessment about the Russian activity. The Biden administration has for months warned about potential “imminent” invasion by troops local to Moscow, which the U.S. assesses numbers in excess of 100,000 along Russia's border with Ukraine, within allied Belarus to Ukraine’s north and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, to its south.
Ukrainian leaders have pressed their American counterparts in recent days to dial back their predictions of a pressing Russian invasion – likely as a way to stem civil panic and economic collapse at home.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has previously rejected similar claims, calling them “unfounded.”
Russian leaders have repeatedly denied any provocative military actions, saying its deployments only amount to military exercises. It has also criticized the NATO alliance for provoking Russia into war by, in part, expanding its membership to former Soviet states. Ukraine has pressed for admission into the Cold War-era alliance.
The U.S. announced this week it would deploy thousands of American troops to allied countries in Eastern Europe, including Romania, as a deterrent against Russian aggression. The Biden administration continues to face questions about why it would initiate potentially provocative military activity elsewhere in Europe when Russia’s focus appears entirely on Ukraine.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken were briefing senior congressional lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the ongoing Russian threat while Kirby was speaking. He would not say whether they would detail these latest claims to the members of Congress.
“This is just one example that we can talk about today,” Kirby said. “We believe it’s important when we see it like this – and we can – to call it out.”
Though he would not say whether the U.S believes Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the supposed operations, Kirby added, “Our experience is that very little of this nature is not approved at the highest levels” of the Russian government.
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