War in Ukraine: True or not, the drone attack on the Kremlin worries Russia

Two Ukrainian drones intent on assassinating Vladimir Putin flew into the heart of Moscow under cover of darkness, Russian authorities say, reaching as far as the Kremlin before being shot down. In the last minute.

A question cloud overlook this statement.

Why did the announcement from the Kremlin take place twelve hours later of the alleged accident? Why didn’t reports of explosions surface before the announcement on messaging apps, which remain abuzz with conversations despite Russia’s crackdown on the media and criticism of the war in Ukraine?

Why no videos appeared of the alleged attacks until after the announcement? Why haven’t the images been verified?

A drone strike on the Kremlin would be the worst penetration into Russian airspace since the German teenager Matthias Rust landed his small single-engine plane on the edge of Red Square in 1987. Announcing the attack – or even inventing it– Russia risks undermine the confidence of its citizens in his frequent claims of military superiority.

Adding to this humiliation is the fact that the accident occurred less than a week before Victory Day, the most important military holiday in Russia. In some of the videos of the alleged attack, the stands can be seen decorated for the day’s military parade ritual in Red Square.

In the case of President Putin, the confession that Ukrainian drones have reached the Kremlin could justify a brutal increase in attacks on Ukraine. Russian officials insist — repeated evidence proves otherwise — that the army only targets military targets.

retaliation in sight

Serious reprisals are already on the horizon, including specifically targeted threats against the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who denied attacking the Kremlin.

“After today’s terrorist act (for this Wednesday), there is no other variant than Zelensky’s physical estrangement and his cabal,” said former Russian president and Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev.

The speaker of the powerful lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, has compared the Ukrainian government to the terrorist group ISIS, saying it it will require “the use of weapons capable of destroying it”.

Russia’s nuclear doctrine states that the country can use nuclear weapons if you suffer a nuclear attack or face an attack with conventional weapons which threatens “the very existence” of the Russian state.

The West has accused Putin of playing nuclear war drums during the war in Ukraine. But Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, minimized the hypothesis related to the alleged attack on the Kremlin.

“You won’t say, ‘Now that there’s been an attack with a tiny dronewe can go to nuclear war,'” he explained.

Commentator Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speechwriter who fled the country, He also raised his doubts.

“If enemy drones get as far as the Kremlin, it means that any other object located on the territory of the European part of Russia is generally defenseless,” he said. “Therefore, I don’t think this is a provocation conceived by the Kremlin influence public opinion.

If Ukraine really attacked, “consider it a performative strike, a demonstration of skill and a mission statement: ‘Don’t think Moscow is safe,'” said Mark Galeotti, a Russian military and security analyst at University College London.

“Less clear,” he said on Twitter, “is whether it makes Russians nervous or angry“.

a wave of attacks

The nerves of the Russians they have already begun to shake by attacks, probably coming from Ukraine or from domestic opponents, which have sharply escalated in recent weeks.

Two freight trains were derailed this week by bombs in the Bryansk region on the border with Ukraine. It should be noted that the authorities of the region they didn’t blame Ukrainewhich could be an attempt to cover up Ukrainian sabotage capabilities.

However, Briansk authorities said in March that two people had been killed when suspected Ukrainian saboteurs entered the region. The area has also suffered sporadic cross-border bombingincluding one that killed four people in April.

Apparently, Ukrainian drones they entered Russia on several occasions. In December, Russia said it had shot down drones at airports in the Saratov and Ryazan regions. Three soldiers were killed in the Saratov attack, which targeted a major military airport.

Earlier, Russia reported the downing of a targeted Ukrainian drone the command center of its Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopolin Crimea annexed by Russia.

In addition, two prominent supporters of Russia’s war against Ukraine were killed on their own soil. Daria Dugina, commentator for a nationalist TV channeldied in a car bomb attack on the outskirts of Moscow that authorities blamed on Ukraine.

And authorities said Ukrainian intelligence was behind the assassination of prominent pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, who died in April. when a bomb explodes hidden inside a statuette that was given to him at a party.

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