U.S. Officials Reveal Russian Plan to Stage Fake Attack to Justify Ukraine Invasion but Show No Evidence

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Russian officials are believed to be planning to stage and film a fake attack by Ukrainian forces that would depict graphic scenes of an explosion, destruction, dead bodies and distraught survivors in order to fabricate a justification for invading its neighbor, U.S. officials claimed Thursday.

"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," Defense Department Press Secretary John Kirby said during a briefing at the Pentagon.

Though Kirby said Biden administration officials wanted to reveal the alleged plan, a State Department spokesman would not provide evidence even when pushed by skeptical reporters, some of whom cited past U.S. intelligence failures.

"This is derived from intelligence in which we have confidence," State Department spokesman Ned Price said Thursday. "Otherwise we would not be making it public in the way we are."

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Price added that by revealing the suspected, elaborate ruse, the U.S. hoped to prevent Russia from going forward with the false flag operation even as more than 100,000 troops are in place along various parts of the country's border with Ukraine.

The Pentagon announced the deployment of 3,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe on Thursday. Thousands more were previously told to be on heightened alert.

Administration officials have said that Russian President Vladimir Putin could launch an invasion at any moment, warning of serious consequences if he does so.

"This video, if released, could provide Putin the spark he needs to initiate and justify military operations against Ukraine," a senior administration official told The Washington Post, which first reported the alleged plan to stage a fake attack.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the U.S. allegation in Russian state media, the Post reports.

RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

"What evidence do you have to support the idea that there is some propaganda film in the making?" Associated Press reporter Matt Lee asked Price on Thursday. "Where is this information?"

"I just delivered it," Price replied.

"That's not evidence," the reporter objected. "That's you saying it. I'm sorry … I would like to see some proof."

The exchange was somewhat heated. Price replied that the information was declassified but in a way that would protect U.S. intelligence sources and methods.

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"I'm sorry that you are doubting the information that is in possession of the U.S. government," Price said. "This is information that's available to us. We are making it available to you … for a couple reasons. One, the attempt to deter the Russians from going ahead with this activity. Two, in the event we are not able to do that, in the event the Russians do go ahead of it, to make it clear as day, to lay bare the fact that this has always been an attempt on the part of the Russian Federation to fabricate a pretext."

Defending his skepticism, the AP reporter referenced the fruitless search for "weapons of mass destruction" that led to the invasion of Iraq two decades ago.

AP/Shutterstock

The back and forth continued, with Price reiterating his statement that U.S. officials wouldn't reveal information if they weren't confident in its veracity but adamantly saying that providing evidence could compromise sources of the intelligence.

Kirby told reporters that such a plan would be "right out of their playbook," referring to Russia.

"This is just one example that we can talk about today," he said. "We're watching this across the board. We've seen these kinds of activities by the Russians in the past and we believe it's important, when we see it like this, and we can, to call it out."