“Disgrace” for Russia
Was the drone attack on the Kremlin staged?
05/04/2023 09:31 am
Two drones are said to have been shot down over a government building in Moscow. The Kremlin suspects an attempted assassination, Kiev denies the attack. Several indications speak against an attack by Ukraine.
The Kremlin speaks of an “assassination attempt” on Putin and a terrorist attack by Ukraine on facilities in Moscow. This is the Russian government’s immediate reaction to two aircraft shot down over the roofs of government buildings in the Russian capital on Wednesday. Videos are said to document the alleged drone attack, an attack hundreds of kilometers away from the actual front in Ukraine. However, there are several indications that the action was carried out and deliberately staged by Russia itself.
“It is extremely unlikely that two drones could penetrate multiple layers of air defenses and be shot directly over the heart of the Kremlin and still produce spectacular images,” said an analysis by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). If, given the number of air defense systems on the roofs of Moscow, a high-ranking target like the Kremlin Senate Palace were to be hit, it would be a “considerable embarrassment for Russia”.
An unstaged drone attack would have been an element of surprise to which Russia could not have reacted immediately, according to the ISW. And so far the Kremlin has not managed to react in time to other military humiliations, such as the defeats at Balakliya and Kherson. The Kremlin’s immediate and coordinated response to the incident therefore indicates that the attack was prepared internally in such a way that its intended political impact would be greater than the sign of weak Moscow defenses.
A denial came from Ukraine after the attack from the highest level. “We are not attacking either Putin or Moscow. We are fighting on our territory. We are defending our villages and towns,” said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said an attack on Moscow made no sense for Ukraine but would help Russia justify its own attacks on civilian targets.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also massively challenged the allegations from Moscow. He could not confirm the reports, said Blinken in Washington. However, he would “take everything that comes out of the Kremlin with great reservation”.
Security expert Joachim Weber at least said on ntv that no other country apart from Ukraine was an option. “Anyone attacking the Kremlin and not yet at war with Russia would be after the attack.” The authors could only be based in Ukraine. Weber thinks it is unlikely that the goal was to kill Putin. “You would have had to know the exact lounge in the building to meet him.” Instead, the attack is symbolic of Ukraine’s ability to hit the enemy’s heart in its capital.