The American authorities speak of an extremely extensive conspiracy. Even real corpses would be used to represent victims of the battle. Actors went on to play mourners.
Stage an attack
The Russians wanted to stage and film an attack. The video should show alleged Ukrainian soldiers attacking Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine with its pro-Russian population or in Russia itself. The Russian video would build on recent disinformation campaigns, senior government officials and others involved say.
The United States hopes to spoil the plan by making it public.
–
–
Moscow wanted to use the propaganda video to accuse Ukraine of genocide against Russian speakers. It should justify a Russian attack.
It was also considered that leaders of the uprising in eastern Ukraine should ask Moscow for Russian intervention.
Provoke confrontation
According to US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer, the plan clearly shows the cynicism on the other side. “We don’t know definitively whether the Russians will do this. We do know that this is a possibility they are considering. They have also used these kinds of pretexts in the past to justify military actions.”
–
–
It has previously been suggested in Western countries that the Russians will try to provoke a confrontation ‘under a false flag’ in order to justify a new invasion of Ukraine after the capture of Crimea in 2014.
–
–
