Top Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that leader Vladimir Putin was “calm and collected” in the face of what Russia claimed to be a Ukrainian assassination attempt against the president.
Dramatic images of an unidentified object flying over the Kremlin surfaced on social media late on Wednesday; Russian authorities claimed that Ukrainian forces had infiltrated Moscow and attempted to bomb Putin’s residence. Ukrainian officials denied any involvement, speculating that Russians opposed to Putin were attacking the country from within.
Peskov’s assurances that Putin was “calm, composed, [and] maintains clarity” followed belligerent threats out of the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry and top Russian official Dmitry Medvedev that the perpetrators of the attack will “face imminent and inevitable punishment.” Medvedev, who has repeatedly threatened nuclear strikes on several European countries, bellowed on Thursday that the world required “the physical elimination” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“You know that the president always remains calm, composed, maintains clarity in his assessments and commands in difficult, extreme situations. So, nothing new has happened in this regard,” Peskov claimed on Thursday, in apparent contrast to former President Medvedev. The spokesman claimed that Putin was still in the deliberation stage of responding to the attack and had no updates on how Moscow would retaliate.
“Naturally, I cannot provide you any details here. In any case the issue may only be about well-thought-out steps that meet the interests of our country,” he said,a ccording to the Russian news agency Tass.
Tass also reported, again citing Peskov, that Putin did not plan to publicly address the attack in a speech and has no plans for expedited conversations with foreign leaders in the aftermath of the alleged drone attack.
“According to the schedule, the president has a briefing with the permanent members of the Security Council tomorrow, on Friday. It has been planned, and it will take place. Of course, it is possible to presume with a high degree of certainty that this subject will be touched upon,” Peskov explained.
According to the Russian government, two drones breached Moscow’s airspace and targeted the Kremlin in the early morning hours of Wednesday local time. Russian officials claimed that the military used “radar warfare systems” to identify and “put out of action” the drones in question. The Kremlin reported no damage or casualties.
“The Kremlin views this incident as a premeditated terrorist attack and attempted assassination of the head of state,” Tass detailed on Thursday. “Russia reserves the right to take countermeasures wherever and whenever it deems fit, the press service pointed out.”
In addition to that event, Russia has endured several bizarre incidents that appear to potentially be Ukrainian attacks. In Taman, a region near occupied Crimea, Ukraine, an oil depot caught fire hours before the drone incident, causing a massive blaze and potentially endangering Russia’s fuel supply.
A similar oil tank fire occurred within Crimea last week, suspected to be a drone attack. On Monday, Russia lost a freight train near the Ukrainian border to an explosion the Russian government blamed on a Ukrainian bomb. The Ukrainian government did not take responsibility for the attack.
Kyiv has responded to the alleged drone assassination attempt. Top Zelensky adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak denied that his government was involved in the affair.
“The emergence of unidentified unmanned aerial vehicles at energy facilities or on Kremlin’s territory can only indicate the guerrilla activities of local resistance forces. As you know, drones can be bought at any military store,” Podolyak said on Wednesday. “The loss of power control over the country by Putin’s clan is obvious. But on the other hand, Russia has repeatedly talked about its total control over the air. In a word, something is happening in [Russia], but definitely without Ukraine’s drones over the Kremlin.”
The initial Russian response to the drone incident, albeit without Putin involvement, was to blame the alleged “neo-Nazi” Ukrainian government.
“Crimes like this cannot go unanswered. The Investigative Committee of Russia has opened a criminal case into actions designed to intimidate and terrorise people,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement, “inflict damage and kill people as a means of influencing the decision-making process by government agencies. We are certain that those who bear the blame for these acts will be identified. They will face imminent and inevitable punishment.”
“After today’s terrorist attack, there are no options left other than the physical elimination of Zelensky and his clique,” Medvedev, who leads the national security council, proclaimed, comparing Zelensky to Adolf Hitler.
In the past year – since Russia launched its full-scale invasion to depose Zelensky – Medvedev has threatened a nuclear attack on Germany, the United Kingdom, and the International Criminal Court (ICC), among other sites.
Russia launched its “special operation” in Ukraine in February 2022, eight years after initially invading Ukraine and colonizing Crimea. Russian-backed rebels had waged a war against Kyiv in the restive eastern Donbass region for nearly a decade before Russian troops formally crossed into Ukraine. Putin “annexed” the Donbass region (Donetsk and Luhansk) and the eastern territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in September, adding them to Crimea as Russian land.
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