Russia has accused the United States of being behind the recent drone attack on the Kremlin, claiming that Washington has “direct involvement” in the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, alleged that the United States “dictated” Ukrainian strikes inside Russia, although he provided no evidence to support the claim. Video footage verified by The New York Times showed two explosions over the Kremlin early on Wednesday, an incident that Russia described as a Ukrainian drone attack on President Vladimir V. Putin’s Kremlin residence. Ukraine has denied involvement.
Peskov repeatedly told reporters in a daily conference call that the United States was behind the episode at the Kremlin. However, the White House has rejected the accusations. John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, said that “Peskov is just lying there, pure and simple.”
Leaked secret Pentagon documents show that while the American military is indeed providing battlefield targeting data to Ukraine, American officials have worked to dissuade Ukraine from potentially provocative strikes on Moscow. And American officials admonished Ukraine over the killing in August of Daria Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian ultranationalist, which American intelligence agencies believed was authorized by parts of the Ukrainian government.
Mr. Kirby said on MSNBC that the United States had not determined who was behind Wednesday’s incident, and that “we still don’t really know what happened.”
However, Peskov insisted on Thursday that Ukraine’s denial of involvement in Wednesday’s incident at the Kremlin, and the American denial that it had advance knowledge of it, were “absolutely laughable.” Last month, Putin claimed, also without providing evidence, that “Western intelligence agencies” were helping Ukraine commit “terrorist acts” inside Russia.
“We know this well,” Peskov said on Thursday, after asserting that the United States was telling Ukraine where to strike. “It’s very important that they understand in Washington that we know this, and that they understand how dangerous such direct involvement in the conflict is.”
2023-05-04 09:26:59
Link from www.nytimes.com