Russia accuses US of ‘encouraging terrorists’ after Moscow attack

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By Webdesk


The United States is encouraging Ukraine to carry out cross-border “terrorist” attacks, a Russian official claimed, after Moscow was hit by a series of drone strikes.

Meanwhile, the White House said on Tuesday it did not support the attacks in Russia and is still gathering information about the incident.

“What are these attempts to hide behind the phrase that they ‘gather information’?” Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the US, said in comments on the Telegram messaging channel.

“This is an encouragement to Ukrainian terrorists.”

Russia has long accused what it calls the “collective West” of waging a proxy war against Moscow by backing Ukraine with military and financial aid.

President Vladimir Putin also called the attack, which brought Ukraine’s 15-month war into the heart of Russia, a “terrorist act”. Ukraine, on the other hand, has accused Russia of “terrorism” for its bombing of Ukrainian citizens, allegations that Moscow denies.

A Ukrainian presidential aide who denied Kiev was directly involved in the drone attack on Moscow, but said Ukraine enjoyed watching events and predicting more to come.

‘Not designed to do this’

The drone strike on Moscow exposed glaring breaches in air defenses and underlined the capital’s vulnerability, analysts said.

Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that part of the reason drones were able to reach Moscow undetected was that Russian air defenses are primarily focused on repelling more sophisticated weapons.

“They’re targeting missiles, ballistic missiles, regional missiles, airplanes, bombers, but not short-range drones, you know, that can fly very low over the ground,” Cancian said. “Russian air defense just wasn’t designed for this.”

The Russian military is likely to move some of its air assets away from the frontline to help protect Moscow, Cancian said, a move that would weaken Russian forces in the face of a Ukrainian counter-offensive.

“That’s good for the Ukrainians in the sense that they move these systems away from other areas where they might be used by front-line units,” he said.

The attack, which lightly damaged three apartment buildings and injured two people, enraged Russian hardliners, who scathingly criticized military leaders for failing to protect the capital – more than 500km (310 miles) from the frontline in Ukraine.

Putin cast the attack on Moscow as a Ukrainian attempt to intimidate its citizens. He said Moscow’s air defenses were working as expected, but admitted that protecting a huge city is a daunting task. “It is clear what needs to be done to strengthen air defense – and we will do it,” the Russian leader said.

Military observers said the drones used in the attack were relatively crude and inexpensive, but could have a range of up to 1,000 km (620 mi). They predicted that more would follow.

[Al Jazeera]

‘Flexing Their Muscles’

Some Kremlin viewers noted Putin’s calm response, which, unlike angry statements from Russian hawks, reflects his belief that the public will not be upset by the attack.

“Putin has repeatedly spoken of the remarkable patience and tenacity of the Russian people,” Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Endowment said in a commentary. “As challenging as another Ukrainian attack is, Putin doesn’t think it can spark public discontent with the government.”

James Nixey, director of the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House, said the drone strikes signaled a growing Ukrainian determination to launch attacks deep into Russia and predicted more to come.

“This is not the first and not the last,” Nixey said. “The Ukrainians are flexing their muscles in different ways, looking at what they can hit back. It’s another part of the Ukrainian game to make sure they don’t just play defensively, but can play offensively as well.”

Despite loud calls for revenge, the Russian military cannot do much more than what it has done since the war began in February 2022, Nixey noted.

“The reality is that Russia has limits to what it can do. It has limits on manpower, limits on its finances, limits on its artillery ammunition, missiles, drones, everything,” he said. “They spend all their effort, all their money, all their treasures, all their blood, if you will, to prosecute their war in Ukraine.”

Last week, Russia’s Belgorod border region was the target of one of the most serious cross-border raids since the start of the war, with two pro-Ukrainian paramilitary groups claiming responsibility. The attacks also sparked calls to strengthen Russia’s borders.



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