US says Russia plotting to fabricate pretext for Ukraine invasion

The US has accused Russia of making ready to manufacture an assault by Ukraine or the west to make use of it as a pretext for an invasion of the nation, together with circulating a “propaganda video” with graphic photos of a mock explosion.

Senior Biden administration officers revealed the knowledge on Thursday, as tensions flared up once more between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s navy build-up in Ukraine.

Whereas talks between Moscow and Washington to defuse the stand-off by means of negotiations are persevering with, Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, has continued to escalate his navy preparations for an assault, whereas Joe Biden, US president, dispatched 2,000 troops to Europe this week, together with new deployments to Romania and Poland on Nato’s jap flank.

The US had earlier warned that Russia was planning a “false flag operation” as an excuse to assault Ukraine, however went additional on Thursday.

“Now we have data that one of many choices the Russian authorities is planning is to stage a fabricated assault by Ukrainian navy or intelligence forces towards Russian sovereign territory, or towards Russian-speaking individuals, to justify navy motion towards Ukraine,” a senior Biden administration official mentioned. “We consider that Russia has already recruited those that might be concerned within the fabricated assault and that Russian intelligence is intimately concerned on this effort.”

The US official added Washington believed Moscow would produce a “propaganda video” to bolster its declare to an invasion: “This video possible will depict graphic scenes of a staged false explosion with corpses, actors depicting mourners, and pictures of destroyed areas and navy gear.”

“We consider that the navy gear used on this fabricated assault might be made to appear to be it’s Ukrainian or from allied nations,” the official added, pointing particularly to the doable inclusion of Bayraktar drones, which Kyiv bought from Turkey, to implicate Nato.

The US’s frequent public warnings about Russia’s intentions have created tensions with Ukraine, the place officers have tried to minimise the harm to the economic system and keep away from panic about the specter of an invasion. This week, White Home press secretary Jen Psaki mentioned the White Home was not utilizing the phrase “imminent” to debate a doable assault, as a result of that implied Putin had already decided.

Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister throughout a briefing on Thursday mentioned: “I need to draw your consideration to the truth that our western companions, strategic companions, have modified their rhetoric. And you’ll hear this, together with from the phrases of the White Home press secretary.”