Russian and Belarusian tanks take part in a joint military drill, in an image released Feb. 2, 2022. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/AP)
US officials claim they have evidence that Russia has prepared a false flag operation, approved at high levels in Moscow, to create a pretext for invading Ukraine, according to a Washington Post report.
The newspaper, which is considered close to sources at the CIA, reported on Thursday that, according to people "familiar with the matter," the Biden administration is set to reveal an alleged Russian plan whose details have been declassified by American intelligence.
This comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the US and its allies of deliberately designing a scenario to lure Moscow into a war over Ukraine.
The Russian president said at a recent news conference in Moscow on Wednesday that the United States was trying to pull Russia into an armed conflict over the thorny issue of Ukraine.
But it is US that has a long record of false flag ops: Analyst
However, as New York-based analyst and political commentator, Don DeBar, pointed out, it is the United States, not Russia, that has a long record of running so-called "false flag" operations to enable invasion and war.
DeBar said, "One need only look at the cover sheet of the Memorandum that is a part of the Operation Northwood documents for evidence of this. The memo, on the letterhead of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed to the Secretary of Defense (Robert McNamara), signed by L.L. Lemnitzer, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff and dated 13 March, 1962, opens with the title Subject: Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba and then states without equivocation that The Joint Chiefs of Staff have considered the attached Memorandum for the Chief of Operations, Cuba Project, which responds to a request of that office for brief but precise description of pretexts .which would provide justification for US military intervention in Cuba."
"There is no ambiguity there," he added. "This is what they do when they need an excuse to go to war. Whether the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the incubator babies and then the invisible WMDs in Iraq, the phony claims of Libyan airplanes strafing protestors, all the way back to the sinking of Maine by the Malecon in Havana, the US government lies, kills and misdirects in order to provide what is, in essence, political public relations cover for war."
Putin: US is seeking confrontation with Russia
Russias President Vladimir Putin has said that, among other things, Washington is seeking a confrontation with Moscow as a pretext to impose more sanctions on Russia, a particular focus since the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in Europe.
"Ukraine is just an instrument of achieving this goal. It can be done in different ways, such as pulling us into some armed conflict and then forcing their allies in Europe to enact those harsh sanctions against us that are being discussed today in the United States," he said.
According to the Post report, the operation was designed by Russian security services and is in the advanced stages of preparation. The unnamed US officials reportedly said that Russia will falsely pin the attack, which could involve alleged casualties not only in eastern Ukraine but also in Russia, on Ukrainian forces.
The alleged operation would involve broadcasting images of civilian casualties in eastern Ukraine to create a pretext for invasion, the officials said, adding "this is a specific operation designed to create a potential pretext."
The Post report comes in an environment of massively heightened tensions, an intensive Washingtons anti-Russian propaganda campaign, and deployment of forces and equipment throughout most of the former Warsaw Pact nations and three former Soviet republics that have joined NATO, with at least two others (Georgia and Ukraine) not yet admitted as formal members but who are involved in military cooperation, including hosting military assets, with the US and NATO.
On Wednesday, the US Defense Department said it was deploying about 3,000 more troops to Eastern Europe. The US military has already placed 8,500 troops on heightened alert to prepare for deployment in Eastern Europe and bolster NATOs presence in the region.
Also, the US State Department has approved shipments of US-made missiles and other weapons from NATO allies Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to Ukraine.
The United States claims that Russia has been deploying thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine to attack the country. Moscow has rejected the allegations and said the military build-up is defensive.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/26678
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