Russia claimed that it thwarted an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, calling it an unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Vladimir Putin and promising retaliation for what it termed a “terrorist” act. Meanwhile, the President of Ukraine has denied it.
Putin was not in the Kremlin at the time and was at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, his Spokesman, Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s state news agency.
There was no independent verification of the purported attack, which Russia authorities said occurred overnight but presented no evidence to support it. Questions also arose as to why it took the Kremlin hours to report the incident and why videos of it also surfaced later in the day.
The Kremlin stated that Russian military and security forces had stopped the drones before they could strike. Nobody was hurt, it added. Its official website said debris from the drones fell on the Kremlin grounds without damage.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on an unannounced visit to Helsinki for talks with the leaders of five Nordic countries, denied any role. “We don’t attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We’re defending our villages and cities,” he said at a news conference.
The Kremlin claimed the attack was planned to disrupt Victory Day, which Russia celebrates in Red Square on May 9 to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Peskov said the parade would go on as scheduled.
Before the news about the alleged attack broke, Moscow Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin issued a ban on using drones in the Russian capital, with an exception for those launched by authorities. He gave no reason for the ban, saying only it would prevent the “illegal use of drones that can hinder the work of law enforcement.”
The purported drone attack would be a significant escalation in the 14-month conflict, with Ukraine taking the war to the heart of Russian power.
The alleged attack prompted calls in Russia from pro-Kremlin figures for assassinations of senior leaders in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Presidential Adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak said that the claims could provide a pretext for Russia “to justify massive strikes on Ukrainian cities, on the civilian population, on infrastructure facilities.”
Certainly Not An Attempt To Assassinate Putin
Phillips O’Brien, Professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, opined, “It certainly wasn’t an attempt to assassinate Putin, because he doesn’t sleep in the roof and he probably never sleeps in the Kremlin.”
The Professor iterated that it was too soon to prove or disprove whether it was a Russian attempt “either to make Ukraine look reckless or to buck up Russian public opinion” or if it was a Ukrainian operation to embarrass Russia.
James Nixey, Director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Chatham House think-tank, said “the two most likely possibilities are a ‘warning shot across the bows’ by Kyiv or a false flag operation by Moscow designed to justify more intense attacks in Ukraine or more conscription.”
If it was a warning shot by Kyiv, then it was “yet another shocking security lapse by the Russian state,” Nixey said.
“If it’s a false flag operation by Moscow, then it reeks of desperation and it’s a high-risk strategy likely to be exposed, considering how poor their tradecraft seems to be,” he added.
U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, speaking in Washington at a World Press Freedom Day event, averred that he had seen the reports but “I can’t in any way validate them. We simply don’t know.”
“I would take anything coming out of the Kremlin with a very large shaker of salt so let’s see. We’ll see what the facts are and it’s really hard to comment or speculate on this without really knowing what the facts are.”
Antony Blinken
