U.S. details elaborate Russian plan to produce video of fake Ukrainian attack, with corpses and actors

U.S. officials said Thursday that Russia has advanced plans to produce a video of a fake Ukrainian attack on Russian-speaking civilians to use as a pretext for invading Ukraine.
"We believe that Russia would produce a very graphic propaganda video, which would include corpses and actors that would be depicting mourners and images of destroyed locations, as well as military equipment" made to look like "Western-supplied" arms, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. The plan is far enough along that Russian officials have found corpses to use in the video and recruited actors to play mourners, U.S. officials told The New York Times and The Washington Post.
State Department spokesman Ned Price got some pushback from Associated Press reporter Matt Lee when he described the same Russian plot Thursday. Lee repeatedly pushed Price to provide evidence for the U.S. allegation. "'Crisis actors'? Really?" he said. "This is like Alex Jones territory you're getting into now."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Price said Russia has staged similar "false flag" attacks in the past, including televised fake claims of Ukrainian genocide in Crimea before Russia seized the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. "This is derived from intelligence in which we have confidence," he said, and the point of making it public is to deter Russia from carrying it out.
Russia denies the allegation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said the U.S. and Britain have warned of Russian plots in Ukraine already in the past few weeks, "but nothing ever came of them."
The U.S. has shared the information with European allies, and top intelligence officials briefed members of Congress on the classified intelligence Thursday. Senators from both parties emerged sounding convinced Russia is planning a false flag attack.
A British official told the Times that the U.K. did its own analysis of the intelligence and has high confidence Russia is planning to engineer such a false attack to justify an invasion. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the U.S. intelligence is "clear and shocking evidence of Russia's unprovoked aggression and underhand activity to destabilize Ukraine."
Russia, meanwhile, continues adding to its more than 100,000 troops staged around Ukraine's borders, including sending more special forces, missiles, and advanced fighter jets into neighboring Belarus, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday. "This is the biggest Russian deployment there since the Cold War." Russia says its forces are in Belarus for war games starting Feb. 10.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Quirky hot cross buns to try this Easter
The Week Recommends Creative, flavourful twists on the classic Easter bake, from tiramisu and stem ginger to a cheesy sharing-size treat
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
What should you be stockpiling for 'World War Three'?
In the Spotlight Britons advised to prepare after the EU tells its citizens to have an emergency kit just in case
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Carnivore diet: why people are eating only meat
The Explainer 'Meatfluencers' are taking social media by storm but experts warn meat-only diets have health consequences
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
The JFK files: the truth at last?
In The Spotlight More than 64,000 previously classified documents relating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy have been released by the Trump administration
By The Week Staff Published
-
Supreme Court upholds 'ghost gun' restrictions
Speed Read Ghost guns can be regulated like other firearms
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump sets 25% tariffs on auto imports
Speed Read The White House says the move will increase domestic manufacturing. But the steep import taxes could also harm the US auto industry.
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump allies urge White House to admit chat blunder
Speed Read Even pro-Trump figures are criticizing The White House's handling of the Signal scandal
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Waltz takes blame for texts amid calls for Hegseth ouster
Speed Read Democrats are calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Michael Waltz to step down
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Judge: Nazis treated better than Trump deportees
speed read U.S. District Judge James Boasberg reaffirmed his order barring President Donald Trump from deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US officials share war plans with journalist in group chat
Speed Read Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to a Signal conversation about striking Yemen
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Canada's Mark Carney calls snap election
speed read Voters will go to the polls on April 28 to pick a new government
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published