US says new intel shows Russia plotting false flag attack

The US has obtained intelligence indicating that the Russian government developed a plan to stage a false attack that would depict the Ukrainian military or its intelligence forces assaulting Russian territory to help establish a pretext for military action against Ukraine, a senior Biden administration official says.

The scheme included the production of a graphic propaganda video that would show staged explosions and would use corpses and actors depicting grieving mourners, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment and speaks on the condition of anonymity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a cabinet meeting via a videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on January 12, 2022 (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

The plan, which was revealed in declassified intelligence shared with Ukrainian officials and European allies in recent days, is the latest allegation by the US and Britain that Russia is plotting to use a false pretext to go to war against Ukraine.

The US has not provided detailed information backing up the intelligence findings. The official says that the Biden administration is making a concerted effort to publicize the intelligence in the hopes that it dissuades Russia from moving forward with an invasion of Ukraine.