ISW sees Putin in embarrassment
Kadyrov announces revenge for attacks on Moscow
5/31/2023 5:39 am
After the drone attacks on Moscow, Kremlin vassal Kadyrov announces revenge actions in Ukraine. While Putin is downplaying the attacks, according to US experts, the Chechen leader also wants to knock on the doors of Warsaw and Berlin.
After the drone strikes in Moscow, Russia has threatened Ukraine with retaliatory strikes. In addition to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, who accused Kiev of terror and announced a reaction, his close confidante Ramzan Kadyrov swore revenge: the leader of the Russian republic of Chechnya in the North Caucasus called for the imposition of martial law in Russia in order to take tougher action against Ukraine. Ukraine, which has been repeatedly attacked by Russia, has denied direct responsibility for the attacks on Moscow.
“We will soon show in the zone of military special operations what revenge is in the full sense of the word,” Kadyrov wrote in his blog on the Telegram news channel. Once again he threatened Western Europe with Russian attacks, saying that Russia could knock on the doors of Germany or Poland, for example.
US experts assume that Putin is trying to downplay the drone attacks on Moscow. According to an analysis by the Institute for War Studies ISW in Washington, the Kremlin chief wants to hide his limited options for a retaliatory strike against Ukraine. For example, Putin claimed without any evidence that Russian forces had attacked the headquarters of the Ukrainian military intelligence service two or three days ago. “Putin’s emphasis on past and current missile attacks is likely an attempt to signal that Russia is already actively retaliating and does not need to respond to further Ukrainian provocations,” the experts write.
New shelling on Russian border regions
While Moscow has only recently been the scene of such drone attacks, regions close to the Ukraine border in particular have been reporting attacks with artillery and drones from the neighboring country for a long time. The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkiv, reported renewed shelling of the region from the Ukrainian side. There is one dead and one injured.
In the Russian capital, air defense shot down several drones on Tuesday morning. According to the authorities, several houses were damaged and two people injured. Where the drones came from remained unclear. A drone attack over the Kremlin was repelled in early May. Kremlin chief Putin praised the work of the air defense, but also said that it needs to be tighter and better.
US Government: We do not support
After the drone strikes on Moscow, the US government reiterated that it does not support attacks within Russia. “We have made clear statements to the Ukrainians not only publicly but also privately, but we don’t want to get involved in hypotheses,” said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre in Washington. Information is currently being collected to find out exactly what happened. At the same time, she made it clear: “We do not support attacks within Russia. Period.”
On the other hand, according to British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Ukraine has the right to attack targets on Russian territory for the purpose of self-defense. “Legitimate military targets outside of its own borders are part of Ukraine’s right to self-defense,” Cleverly said at a press conference with his Estonian counterpart Margus Tsahkna in the Estonian capital Tallinn on Tuesday. Cleverly declined to comment on the drones that fell on Moscow.