It is puzzling why the videos and reports were not published by Russian media until many hours after the alleged attempted attack.
“We view this as a planned terrorist attack,” the presidential office reportedly said. It was an attempt to attack Putin’s life. Russia reserves the right to respond.
Background still unclear
It cannot be verified whether it was a drone by the Ukrainian armed forces, the action of a terrorist group or an assassination attempt.
➤ It has been known since December that Ukraine theoretically has drones with sufficient range
In recent months, attacks have been carried out against a Russian military blogger or the daughter of a Kremlin propagandist – Kiev has always denied responsibility.
A Ukrainian drone crashed 50 kilometers east of Moscow on Monday of last week. In response, the authorities ordered the cancellation of the parade and a concert planned for 9 May in the Bogorodsk district on the occasion of the celebrations of the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 for “security reasons”.
➤ Danger for the Ukrainian counter-offensive: the FAB’s Russian bombs
Several other Russian regions, notably the Kursk and Belgorod regions bordering Ukraine and annexed Crimea, have already decided to cancel the May 9 parades for the same reasons. On Tuesday, Peskov said the May 9 parade in Red Square would remain in effect.
Either way, Moscow will take advantage of the incident
Regardless of whether the attack was real, the Kremlin will use the incident to “retaliate” against Ukraine. For example, the massive bombing of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure began after the attack on the Kerch bridge. On the eve of February 24, 2022, Moscow spoke about “terrorist attacks” in the Ukrainian areas of pro-Russian separatists. Some Russian lawmakers have already called for retaliatory measures against Kiev’s government district.