Russia accuses US of orchestrating ‘assassination attempt’ on Vladimir Putin

Russia shot down two drones over the Kremlin, Putin’s official residence in Moscow, on Tuesday night, and blamed Ukraine, insisting that the incident was an attempted “terrorist” assassination.

“Last night, the Kyiv regime attempted to carry out a strike on the Kremlin residence of the President of the Russian Federation with unmanned aerial vehicles,” it said.

“The Kremlin has assessed these actions as a planned terrorist act and an assassination attempt on the president on the eve of Victory Day, the May 9 parade.

“The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit.”

Putin was not hurt, and was not even present at the time, as he was working at his Novo Ogaryovo compound outside the city.

Ukraine denied any involvement, suggesting the drones were launched by Russian dissidents, and military experts expressed severe doubts about the Kremlin’s accusation, theorising it was actually a “false flag” operation conceived by the Russian government itself.

Russia claims US ‘definitely behind the attack’

Speaking on Thursday, local time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov further inflamed the situation by accusing the US of being involved.

“Attempts to disown this, both in Kyiv and in Washington, are of course absolutely ridiculous,” Peskov said, according to Reuters.

“We know very well that decisions about such actions, about such terrorist attacks, are made not in Kyiv but in Washington. And Kyiv is already executing what it is told to do.

“Washington is definitely behind this attack. We are aware of this.”

He went on to repeat that Ukraine “just implements” the decisions made in Washington. At no point did he provide any evidence to support his claims.

According to Russian state media, Peskov also stressed that Putin was not rattled by the alleged attempt on his life.

“You know the president always maintains calmness, composure, clarity in the assessments and commands that he gives out in difficult, extreme situations,” he said.

“Nothing new has happened in this regard. The usual, working environment (continues). Everyone is working, everyone is in their places.”

Peskov said the alleged drone attack would likely be “touched upon” during a meeting of Russia’s Security Council on Friday.

‘Obviously a ludicrous claim’

The US swiftly denied Peskov’s allegation, with Pentagon spokesman John Kirby appearing on multiple morning news programs to refute it.

“We had nothing to do this,” Admiral Kirby told MSNBC.

“Peskov is just lying there, pure and simple … we’ve been clear with them publicly and we’ve been clear with them privately that we do not encourage, nor do we enable (the Ukrainians) to strike outside Ukraine.”

“I would just tell you, Mr Peskov is lying,” he told CNN.

“I mean, it’s obviously a ludicrous claim. The United States had nothing to do with this. We don’t even know what happened here.

“But I can assure you the United States had no role in it whatsoever.”

Asked whether the US felt Putin was a legitimate military target, Adm Kirby said it would not be “useful” to “get into a legal discussion” on the matter.

“Look, we don’t favour, we don’t endorse strikes on individual leaders,” he said.

“Mr Putin is the aggressor here. His forces are in Ukraine illegally and in an unprovoked way. If he really wants to end this war, if he really wants to see security there on the continent, he could have his troops pull out now and end this thing altogether.”

Putin ‘must receive judgment’

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed The Hague, which hosts the International Criminal Court.

In his speech, Mr Zelensky said Putin should face trial and “deserved to be sentenced” for his “criminal actions”. The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president, alleging he is responsible for the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children.

It does not have the power to prosecute him for the general invasion of Ukraine, which began in February of last year. Mr Zelensky said that was a “shortcoming” of international law.

“I’m sure we will see that (prosecutions) happen when we win. And we will win,” he said.

“If we want true justice, we should not look for excuses and should not refer to the shortcomings of the current international law, but make bold decisions that will correct the shortcomings that unfortunately exist.

“Whoever brings war must receive judgment.”

Earlier, Mr Zelensky forcefully denied any involvement in the Moscow drone incident.

“We don’t attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We are defending our villages and cities,” he said during a visit to Finland.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser in Mr Zelensky’s office, said Russia’s claims of an assassination attempt were “predictable”.

“First of all, Ukraine wages an exclusively defensive war and does not attack targets on the territory of the Russian Federation,” said Mr Podolyak.

“What for? This does not solve any military issue. But it gives the Russian Federation grounds to justify its attacks on civilians.

“Secondly, we are watching with interest the growing number of mishaps and incidents that are taking place in different parts of Russia. The emergence of unidentified unmanned aerial vehicles at energy facilities or on the Kremlin’s territory can only indicate the guerrilla activities of local resistance forces.

“The loss of control over the country by Putin’s regime is obvious.”

Former Russian president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of Putin who currently serves as deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, reacted to the supposed assassination attempt by calling for Mr Zelensky to be killed.

“After today’s terrorist attack, there are no options left other than the physical elimination of Zelensky and his clique,” said Medvedev.

“He is not even needed to sign the act of unconditional capitulation. Hitler, as you know, did not sign it either.”