Russia is denying claims that it was planning to release video of a fake attack in an attempt to justify an invasion of Ukraine.
The Pentagon and State Department on Thursday accused Russia of planning to stage and film a fabricated attack by the Ukrainian military either on Russian territory or against Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine.
The Kremlin reportedly intended to use the video to accuse Ukraine of "genocide" against Russian-speaking people and justify an attack or have separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine invite a Russian intervention.
"I'd recommend not to take anyone's word for it, especially the State Department, when it comes to these issues," Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday, The Moscow Times reported.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the U.S. claims "nonsense."
"The delusional nature of such fabrications — and there are more and more of them every day — is obvious to any more-or-less experienced political scientist," Lavrov said in televised remarks, the independent Russian English-speaking online newspaper reported.
The Russian state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported that pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine accused U.S., British, and Estonian media outlets of promoting fake stories to "demonstrate Russian aggression to the Western community."
The New York Times first reported news of Russia's plans and said the scheme's highlights were declassified in hopes of both derailing Russia’s plans and convincing allies of the seriousness of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions.
"As part of this fake attack, we believe that Russia would produce a very graphic propaganda video," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Thursday, "which would include 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 made to look like it was Western-supplied, Ukrainian — you know, to Ukraine equipment."
Russia denies planning an attack on Ukraine, saying that positioning 100,000 troops near the country’s borders is its right. Moscow has accused the U.S. and NATO of heightening tensions.
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