Russia’s claim that Ukraine launched aerial attack drones at President Vladimir Putin’s Moscow residence follows a familiar pattern of false Kremlin claims. This latest one surfaced as United States and Ukrainian officials reported progress in peace negotiations. Moscow is using the purported attack to cite new grounds for revising its negotiating position.
Ukraine quickly rejected the allegation, with President Volodymyr Zelensky describing it as fabricated. Moreover, Moscow has offered no evidence to support its claim. But even if one were to accept, for the sake of argument, that Ukrainian drones did target the Russian president, Russia’s display of outrage would still ring hollow.
From the first days of the war, Moscow has actively and repeatedly sought to kill Ukraine’s president in numerous different ways. It has dispatched assassination teams and launched multiple air strikes targeting Zelensky, specifically. Indeed, if not for Kyiv’s layered air defenses and the resilience of the presidential administration building, Russia would likely have killed Zelensky already.
We must remember that Putin is a master of deception. From the Moscow apartment bombings in 1999 that brought Putin to power and justified his attack on Chechnya, to fabricated provocations justifying interventions in Georgia and Crimea, the Kremlin has repeatedly manufactured attacks to suit its political needs. The Kremlin’s newest performance of outrage serves key strategic goals in that same vein. It creates a pretext to blame the end of negotiations on Kyiv when Moscow never intended to honor those talks. At the same time, Moscow positions itself as the aggrieved party. Moscow’s goal from the talks has always been to erode American support for Ukraine.
But this incident also demonstrates why any peace agreement signed by Russia carries no value unless backed by a credible deterrent force to prevent a future Russian attack. Moscow can manufacture claims without evidence at any moment to rationalize breaking any commitment. Tomorrow it could be another drone attack, a border provocation, or an obligation to defend Russian speakers, whatever serves the Kremlin’s purposes. Put simply, anything that Putin or his officials decide to make up.
The Kremlin counts on Western audiences growing weary of telling truth from lies. What we’re seeing here, then, is a textbook use of Russia’s Soviet era “active measures,” tactics aimed less at persuading than at muddying the picture for American voters and policymakers alike.
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The top-line reality remains clear, however. Moscow’s central objective remains that of dominant control over Ukraine. Negotiations are not a means to that end. The Kremlin wants to outlast Western support for Kyiv. As long as it believes time favors it, there is no incentive to compromise.
The alleged drone attack is a bluff.