Editing False flag (section)

==Failed operations==
Due to its deceptive nature a false flag operation can fail in such a manner as to implicate the perpetrator rather than the intended victim.

A notable example is an April 2022 [[Federal Security Service|FSB]] operation where would-be Ukrainian assassins of Russian propagandist [[Vladimir Solovyov (TV presenter)|Vladimir Solovyov]] were filmed while being arrested. The footage published by the FSB was, however, found to implicate the FSB as having staged the arrest. Together with weapons, drugs, Ukrainian passports, and Nazi memorabilia the footage also prominently showed three expansion packs for ''[[The Sims 3]]'' video game. Investigative journalist [[Eliot Higgins]] interpreted this to mean that the arrest was in fact staged, with its organizers misunderstanding an instruction "to get 3 [[SIM card|SIMs]]". Further lending credence to the arrest being staged was footage of a note with a Russian phrase, which in fact read ''signature unclear''. This was again interpreted as a misunderstood instruction, this time taken too literally. The FSB subsequently published a version of the footage with the Sims games blurred out.<ref>{{cite news |last=Teh |first=Cheryl |title=Journalists mocked Russia's spy agency after copies of the 'Sims 3' video game were spotted in a clip of agents allegedly foiling an assassination plot |date=2022-04-26 |work=[[Business Insider]] |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-agents-the-sims-video-game-sting-operation-2022-4 |access-date=2024-08-14}}</ref><ref name="WaPo">{{cite news |last1=Klimentov |first1=Mikhail |title=Alleged Russian sting operation uncovers 'The Sims 3,' guns, grenade |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/04/26/russian-assassination-sims-3/ |access-date=14 August 2024}}</ref><ref name="vice">{{cite web |last1=Childs |first1=Simon |title=Russia Bizarrely Includes Sims 3 Among Evidence of 'Staged' Assassination Plot |date=26 April 2022 |publisher=[[Vice Media]] |website=vice.com |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/russia-sims-3/?utm_source=motherboard_twitter |access-date=14 August 2024}}</ref>