Russia could be preparing a false flag operation attacking a ship in the Black Sea, the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said Thursday, repeating a warning from the US National Security Council.
“We see some very concerning signs of the Russians considering the kind of false flag operations that we highlighted in the run up to the war as well – in other words, looking at ways they might make attacks against shipping in the Black Sea and then blaming, trying to blame it on the Ukrainians,” Bill Burns told the Aspen Security Forum, without providing further detail.
Attempts to attribute to Russia the preparation of attacks on civilian vessels are «pure fabrication» as this «completely contradicts our approaches,» Russia’s Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said Thursday.
It comes as Russia has been bombarding the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa with sustained attacks.
Russian missiles struck grain warehouses in Odesa overnight on Thursday, destroying tons of crops in storage, as Moscow’s forces targeted the city for a fourth consecutive night, a Ukrainian military official said.
The attacks come after Moscow pulled out of a critical grain deal that allowed Ukrainian grain exports a safe way out of the country’s Black Sea ports. The UN secretary-general has warned that attacks on port cities will have an impact «well beyond Ukraine» when it comes to food prices.
CNN’s Radina Gigova and Oren Liebermann contributed to this post.