The Kremlin claimed, without evidence, that a Ukrainian drone attempted to assassinate President Vladimir Putin on May 3. Ukraine denies the accusation.
Elon Musk is back again to save Ukraine, after months of falling in love with the Ukrainian authorities.
The fallout resulted from the desire of the billionaire, who became influential in geopolitics in the aftermath of the Russian war in Ukraine, to advocate negotiations as the only way to end the conflict.
CEO of Tesla, the electric car maker (TSLA) – Get a free report He was one of the first big presidents in the world to stand with Ukraine, after Russia invaded the country on February 24, 2022. He did not hesitate to provide Starlink, the satellite internet access service developed by SpaceX, his space company, to the former Soviet Union country.
Starlink has become the only communication system for the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the front lines, after Russian bombing destroyed the country’s communications systems. It also allows ordinary people to narrate their daily lives during the invasion, thus neutralizing Russian propaganda.
Musk supports Ukraine
But as the war dragged on, Musk offered a peace plan, believing that peace was the only way out of a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions more.
The problem is that this peace plan has captured a large part of President Putin’s demands. Unsurprisingly, he has angered the Ukrainian authorities, including President Volodymyr Zelensky. For the Ukrainians and their NATO allies, this war is a clash between democracy and dictatorship. Kiev stands for the democratic camp, while Putin’s Russia, which invaded Ukraine without provocation, represents the dictatorship. Kiev believes the Kremlin should withdraw from Ukraine to end the war.
While Musk says he understands these arguments, he has repeatedly argued that the danger of this conflict is that it will degenerate into World War III with disastrous consequences for the world, because Russia will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons.
In this context, Musk refused to allow Ukraine to use Starlink for military purposes, which angered the Ukrainian authorities. As a result, the gulf between Musk and Kiev and its supporters widened.
But the just-unveiled event may finally mark the beginning of a bipartisan rapprochement: The Kremlin has just accused Ukraine of trying to kill President Putin, which the country has denied. Ukrainian officials also warned that Moscow could use the accusations to launch a “large-scale terrorist provocation”.
Musk believes the Ukrainians that the Russian accusations are “false flag”.
“Strange days,” the billionaire said on Twitter. “It seems more like pseudoscience than an actual (weak) assassination attempt, but both are possible.”
A brief reminder of the facts.
Russian accusations
Tensions escalated this Wednesday, May 3, between Ukraine and Russia, when the Kremlin issued a statement claiming that two Ukrainian drones attempted to strike overnight the Kremlin compound, the center of Russian power, guarded by the Federal Protective Service (FSO), which provides personal security to Putin.
“We consider these actions as a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the president carried out on the eve of Victory Day, the May 9 parade, where foreign guests are also scheduled,” the Kremlin said in a statement. Unusual statement.
According to the Presidency, the two drones were shot down using “warfare radar systems”. The Russian government said there were no casualties or material damage.
“As a result of this terrorist act, the president was not harmed. His work schedule has not changed, but he continues as usual,” the statement said.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media that the Russian leader was not present at the time of the attack. Peskov added that he was working at his official and highly secure residence in Novo-Ogaryovo, 25 kilometers west of Moscow.
The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures wherever and whenever it deems appropriate.
Immediately after the Kremlin’s statement, a series of videos, purporting to show the attack, suddenly appeared on multiple Russian-language Telegram channels.
One of these videos, by far the most spectacular, shows a flying machine exploding in a beam of flame over the dome of the Senate Palace, topped with the Russian flag, one of the main buildings of the Kremlin.
TheStreet has not been able to confirm the authenticity of these videos and the Russian authorities have not commented on them at this stage. Barely an hour after these accusations, Kiev denied the accusations and accused Russia of making “fabricated” statements.
“Of course, Ukraine has nothing to do with the drone attacks on the Kremlin,” Mykhailo Podolak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a message to reporters.
He warned that “such statements by Russia should only be seen as an attempt to set a context” that could be used as a pretext for “a major terrorist attack in Ukraine”.
A few hours later, it was Volodymyr Zelensky’s turn to respond.
He told Scandinavian television station TV2: “We are not attacking Putin or Moscow. We are fighting on our lands. We are defending our villages and cities. We do not have enough weapons for those.”
Zelensky, who is visiting Helsinki, said the Ukrainians are leaving Putin to an international court.
“everyone gets a false flag”
These events come a few days before the celebrations, on May 9, of the victory of the Soviet Union in 1945 over Nazi Germany, a key date in the political agenda of the Kremlin, which represents the successor to the power of the former Soviet Union.
For Musk, there is no doubt that the Russian accusations are “false flag.” To drive home that message, use Oprah’s famous giveaway meme. He replaced “You get a car, everybody gets a car” with “You get a fake flag, everybody gets a fake flag”.
A false flag is a military or political action taken with the intent of blaming an opponent. Countries often use false flag by launching a real or simulated attack of their own and blaming the enemy for doing so. Then they use it as a pretext to wage war. The expression originated in the 16th century, to describe the fact that pirates often waved the flag of a friendly nation to lure merchant ships before attacking them.
The question is whether Russia will use this incident to launch and justify deadly strikes against Ukraine.