“A deliberate ruse”—#Russia’s announced military pullback from #Ukraine’s border was a deliberate ruse to mislead the US & other world powers, US intel officials washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/…
🚨US officials now believe #Russia’s pullback announcement & Kremlin-made videos of tanks leaving border was a fake to mask Putin’s true intentions: False flag using chemical agent to immobilize civilians, then use cadavers to make it look like #Ukraine gassed & killed civilians.
Here’s the gruesome intelligence: “a false flag by Russia would involve the use of a chemical agent that would immobilize civilians, then use cadavers to make it appear as though the Ukrainians had gassed and killed civilians.…the blame might also be pinned on Americans.”
Souring diplomacy came as the long-running conflict in eastern #Ukraine heated up. The OSCE observer mission counted 591 cease-fire violations, up from 153 the prior day. Western officials have warned #Russia could use developments in the region as a pretext to invade.
#Russia’s proxy militants rained down artillery, mortar rounds & other munitions at #Ukraine war front. Stanytsia Luhanska village was struck by 32 artillery rounds. One blew a hole thru a kindergarten. Soccer balls were scattered among debris. Three adults suffered concussions.
Here’s @clarissaward’s report from the village of Stanytsia Luhanska, #Ukraine, where a pre-school was struck by #Russia’s proxy militants at 8:45 am, when children & teachers were there.
At UN @SecBlinken listed dire possibilities #Russia could use as pretexts to invade #Ukraine, including staging a chemical weapons attack. Potential false-flag: fabricated terrorist bombing in Russia, fake mass grave, staged drone attack on civilians, fake or real chem attack.
@SecBlinken Blinken's UN speech is worth listening to. That he laid out the stark intelligence, exposing Putin's false flag plans hoping to prevent war, indicates the West had already concluded Russia's pullback was a ruse. Tho Blinken didn't mention it, still holding out hope for diplomacy.
Today #Russia's propaganda media RIA published the outlines of a false flag/pretext to invade #Ukraine—following Putin falsely claiming "genocide" in Donbas:
"Investigative Committee [FBI] Opened A Case Because of Mass Graves Found In Donbass"
Media is essential to Putin's war.
#Russia's false flags look very coordinated w/ govt officials, proxies in occupied #Ukraine, and propaganda media.
Yesterday's claim by Putin of "genocide" is today an official investigation, not ironically to investigate Ukraine for violations of international human rights law.
#Russia claims mass graves were discovered in Slavyanoserbsk in Russian-occupied Donbas, claiming "295 civilians died of indiscriminate shelling by Ukrainians were exhumed." Specifically mentioned is Pervomaisk, a city widely known to have been devastated by Russia's war in 2014
The night Yanukovych fled 2/22, Putin called meeting & tasked military & spec services w/ "saving the life of the president of Ukraine"
"We are forced to begin the work to bring Crimea back into Russia." Troops arrived 2/27—5 days later
When Ukrainians ousted Yanukovych (who fled to Russia) in 2014, Putin freaked out & panicked. 100+ Ukrainians were killed in Kyiv, but Putin claimed Yanuk would be killed. And that "forced" him to invade Crimea. It's pretty wild. And he admitted it all. bbc.com/news/world-eur…
Putin actually made a glitzy propaganda film confessing to lying to the world about Russian troops in Crimea. The cynicism was seen as clear & ominous. I wrote about it at the time. It was just after Nemtsov's assassination at the foot of the Kremlin. euromaidanpress.com/2015/03/26/put…
🤔Putin blamed the US for trying to goad #Russia into armed conflict over #Ukraine, but said he "hoped for more dialogue" - even as his invasion force of Russian troops remains amassed on Ukraine's border - The New York Times nytimes.com/live/2022/02/0…
Putin's laughably absurd line: that the US is using #Ukraine as an excuse for #sanctions on #Russia to "contain its development." There wouldn't be sanctions had Putin not stolen parts of Ukraine. He's held a bullet to Ukr since & now uses it to demand NATO exit 1/2 of Europe!😒
So this is interesting: Putin says if #Ukraine joins NATO, then @NATO could launch a war against #Russia to recapture #Crimea. Maybe don't capture another country's territory in the first place, and then you won't be paranoid about the legitimate owner-sovereign recapturing it?🤷🏻♀️
So it was Flynn who spawned the idea (with Waldron) to seize voting machines. And not only by the military, but by DHS, a 2nd draft executive order directed. It's unclear if DHS was a backup or if the coup plotters thought the military & DHS would share coup responsibilities😬
>>> Flynn personally reached out to at least one senior defense official in mid-December attempting to enlist their help with his cause (to seize voting machines)
Could the “senior defense official” be Flynn’s brother Charles??
So Trump had a direct role in the plot to seize voting machines. He directed Giuliani to call DHS's Cuccinelli AFTER the Pentagon rejected the idea. AND after Barr at DOJ rejected it.
That makes THREE fed depts Trump pressed to conspire with him in this part of the coup.
😂This was awesome! @nbcsnl did a parody of Russian disinformation about #Russia’s troops threatening #Ukraine, showing how inane, ridiculous & unbelievable Russian propaganda is. @Mediaite has the video below. I’ll do a quick thread with screen shots of some of the memes.
“The disinformation campaign includes [false] claims that NATO and Ukrainian forces are preparing to attack Russian speakers in Ukraine” (😬same lies Putin used to seize Crimea and Donbas 2014) nytimes.com/2022/01/25/us/…
Why it’s called Hybrid War: Alongside its military buildup, #Russia ramps up its #propaganda against #Ukraine, pumping out #disinformation painting Russia as victim, Ukrainians as Nazis committing genocide against Russians, and US as overlords plotting a chemical weapons attack🙄
“Much of the propaganda is aimed at a domestic audience in Russia and at pro-Moscow Ukrainians… If Russia does invade Ukraine…it wants to make sure it has the support of Russian speakers in the country as its tanks and artillery roll across fields or knock down houses.”😨😒