![The West fears Russia is about to attack Ukraine. But that's not the way Russians are seeing it on TV](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/220121132348-02-lead-image-russia-ukraine-border-tensions-super-tease.jpg)
The West fears Russia is about to attack Ukraine. But that's not the way Russians are seeing it on TV
CNN
Foreign forces bristling with weapons are rolling toward the Ukrainian border. Reconnaissance planes streak overhead. Rumors of "false flag" operations run rampant.
If you're watching state TV in Moscow, you're seeing video of troops and tanks, barbed wire and snipers taking aim, but it's not Russia's forces that are poised for attack -- it's NATO's.
Welcome to Russia's mirror-image depiction of the showdown over Ukraine. In the country's alternate media landscape, NATO forces are carrying out a plan that's been in the works for years: Encircle Russia, topple President Vladimir Putin and seize control of Russia's energy resources.
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The CIA has sent the White House an unclassified email listing all new hires that have been with the agency for two years or less in an effort to comply with an executive order to downsize the federal workforce, according to three sources familiar with the matter – a deeply unorthodox move that could potentially expose the identities of those officers to foreign government hackers.