Ostorozhno Novosti via Reuters
Russian officials and state media breathlessly proclaimed that Ukraine launched an alleged drone strike on the Kremlin in an attempt to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin, who wasn’t even there. Anticipating that this incident will be perceived as Moscow’s false flag operation, the head of state-owned news channel RT, Margarita Simonyan, tweeted a short thread asserting that Russia would have done it more skillfully. She concluded, “No, it wasn’t us. Unfortunately.”
Simonyan’s suspicions that Russia would be accused of staging the episode were well-founded: Moscow has more to gain from this event than Ukraine could have hoped to accomplish. For one, this is a welcome distraction from the failing invasion and an attempt to force Russians in big cities to finally feel like this war came close to home. State TV propagandists have long complained about the lackluster reception for the ongoing military recruitment that has now expanded to Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Attempts to gin up public support have quickly reached a grotesque level on Vladimir Solovyov’s show, The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, where the blame for the incident was immediately attributed to the United States. First, the program broadcast a meme featuring President Joe Biden walking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with the Kremlin ablaze behind them. Solovyov exclaimed: “Show the organizers! Here, look at them!”