While the alleged drone strike against the Kremlin dominates the news everywhere else, the Russians have to make do with scant reports on state channels. They certainly do not get to see images of the incident. And that is strange at first sight.
News outlets on ‘Channel One’, ‘Rossiya 1’ and ‘NTV’ all reported only very succinctly about the attack on Wednesday night. They used archive footage from Red Square instead of one of the many surveillance camera videos showing the alleged Ukrainian drone detonating near the Kremlin.
The incident, described as the first attack on the center of Russian power since 1942, is deeply painful for the Kremlin – especially as it took place just days before the annual Victory Parade (May 9) was due to take place in the Russian capital. Russian capital.
LOOK. Kremlin accuses Ukraine of drone attack
Ukraine and the US previously said they had nothing to do with the attack and even take into account that it was staged. Moscow has not provided evidence of Ukraine or US involvement, but spokesman Dmitri Peskov called their denial “totally ridiculous”. He says the Americans usually pick the targets and the Ukrainians just do their bidding.
The authoritative American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) also thinks it is likely that Russia staged the attack itself, so that the Russian population gets the feeling that the war also has an impact nearby. This should ensure that there is more support for President Vladimir Putin’s policies.
But the succinct coverage by the state media seems to be pointing in the opposite direction, the British paper claims.The Telegraphfixed.
Komsomolskaya Pravda, Russia’s best-selling tabloid, covered the attack on its website, but tried to minimize its impact by describing it as “an attempt by Ukraine to target the Kremlin.” The message on the ‘KP’ website contained an archive recording of the Kremlin accompanied by a short text stating that “there have been no casualties and no material damage to the Kremlin”. No images of the incident were shown here either.
“Nothing can stop us”
Russian war bloggers, for their part, have called for an escalation of the conflict after the attack. In the late night talk shows the incident was discussed and the propagadists smelled blood. MP Andrei Gurulyov said on ‘Rossiya 1’ that Ukrainian leaders “should no longer be allowed to walk the Earth: nothing will stop us”.
Russian hardliners, who urged Putin to retaliate, were still awaiting a strong response from the Kremlin on Thursday. “Putin is hesitant to react so that he doesn’t unleash a nuclear war,” said Sergei Markov, a political analyst with ties to the Kremlin. “But he will have to respond one way or another or Washington and Kiev will venture even more terrorist attacks against Russia.”
Moscow has said it will strike back, but is not sure when and how. According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia already attacked last night with 24 drones, eighteen of which could be shot down by the anti-aircraft defenses.
Putin back to work
Russia’s state broadcaster released footage on Thursday showing President Vladimir Putin holding a working meeting in a place suggested as the Kremlin. In the undated images, Putin consults with Minister of Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov.
These are the first images of Putin since Tuesday evening’s drone attack on the Kremlin, signaled by the Russians. Moscow already announced on Wednesday that Putin was not present when a drone was downed over the Kremlin.
Earlier on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin has been back to work in the Kremlin since Thursday.
ANALYSIS. “Escalation is only possible with nuclear weapons”. Why we should hope that Putin did not plan the attack himself (+)
“This opens the way to heavy escalation”: Did Ukraine really try to assassinate Putin? (+)
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