Brussels, Feb 3 (AP) The US has obtained intelligence indicating that the Russian government developed a plan to stage a false attack that would depict the Ukrainian military or its intelligence forces assaulting Russian territory to help establish a pretext for military action against Ukraine, a senior Biden administration official said Thursday.

The scheme included production of a graphic propaganda video that would show staged explosions and would use corpses and actors depicting grieving mourners, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

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The plan, which was revealed in declassified intelligence shared with Ukrainian officials and European allies in recent days, is the latest allegation by the US and Britain that Russia is plotting to use a false pretext to go to war against Ukraine.

The White House in December accused Russia of developing a “false-flag” operation to create pretext for an invasion. Britain recently named specific Ukrainians it accused of having ties to Russian intelligence officers plotting to overthrow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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The US also released a map of Russian military positions and detailed how officials believe Russia will try to attack Ukraine with as many as 175,000 troops.

The US has not provided detailed information backing up the intelligence findings. The official said that the Biden administration is making a concerted effort to publicise the intelligence in the hopes that it dissuades Russia from moving forward with an invasion of Ukraine.

The White House is concerned that the video, if released, could provide Putin “the spark” they believe he is looking for to credibly put military action in motion.

The US unveiled the the intelligence as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered to mediate talks between Russia and Ukraine and NATO warned that Moscow's military buildup continues, with more troops and military equipment deployed to neighboring Belarus than at any time in the last 30 years.

Erdogan, who has close but sometimes difficult ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Thursday that Turkey was "prepared to undertake its part in order to end the crisis between two friendly nations that are its neighbors in the Black Sea”.

“I have stressed that we would be happy to host a summit meeting at a leadership level or technical level talks,” Erdogan said after about three hours of talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Instead of fueling the fire, we act with the logical aim of reducing the tensions.”

Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine's northern and eastern borders, raising concern that Moscow might invade again, as it did in 2014. The troop presence and uncertainty have unnerved Ukrainians and hurt the country's economy. Russian officials deny that an invasion is planned. (AP)

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