Pentagon claims Russia may plan fake attack as 'pretext' to invade Ukraine

The Pentagon on Thursday said the Kremlin may plan an extensive false flag operation including "graphic propaganda video" to frame Ukrainian forces as a "pretext" for an incursion.

"We've discussed this idea of false flags by the Russians before. We've made no secret of that," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "We do have information that… the Russians are likely to want to fabricate a pretext foreign invasion, which again is right out of their playbook."

The Biden official publicly stated that one possible Russian plan would be 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," which would be invading Ukraine.

The operation would involve "a very graphic propaganda video" with "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 to make made to look like it was Western-supplied… to Ukraine equipment," Kirby stated.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin was likely briefed on the situation. "Our experience is that very little of this nature is not approved at uh the highest levels of the Russian government," the Pentagon spokesman told reporters. 

Members of Congress were briefed on Capitol Hill today about the situation in Ukraine, but Kirby did not go into details about the classified meeting.

Russia denied accusations of planning a fake attack last month.

The U.S. Mission to NATO tweeted a short video Wednesday about the alleged false flag operation.