U.S. Tensions With Russia Reach Breaking Point

The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On Thursday Russia alleged that the United States was behind the drone attack on the Kremlin, which they have claimed was an attempt by Ukraine to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.

Less than a day earlier Moscow had said that an overnight drone strike attack had been made on one of the buildings that is at the center of the country’s government and the residence of Putin. They did not present any evidence to back these accusations, or the accusations about the United States being behind the attack.

In a daily briefing with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Washington was the mind behind the operations. He added that they knew that decisions about terrorist attacks like this one were not taken in Ukraine and that Kyiv was instead just performing all of the actions that they were being told. An ongoing Russian investigation also means that any action taken by Moscow is going to be “thoughtful,” and “balanced.”

John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesman, has denied all of these allegations and has claimed that whatever this incident related to the U.S. had not been involved. In an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on early Thursday he reiterated that Peskov’s claims were lies and the U.S. was not involved at all with these claims.

A day earlier, three American officials had appeared on NBC News to point out that they had no prior knowledge of the attack. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also denied that Ukraine was in any way involved with the alleged attack.