Disinfo: The US is behind the Ukrainian drone attack on the Kremlin

Summary

Attempts by Kyiv and Washington to disown their involvement in the drone attack on the Kremlin are ridiculous. [...] the decision about such attacks is made not in Kyiv, but in Washington.

Is the US behind the drone attack, according to the Kremlin? Undoubtedly. Such decisions - the definition of goals and means - are all dictated to Kyiv from Washington.

Disproof

Conspiracy theory, not backed by any evidence. Part of a wider disinformation campaign aiming to portray the US as responsible for the war in Ukraine, as well as presenting Ukraine as a US puppet.

The video of two drones, streaking across the night sky in Moscow, first appeared in the early hours of 3 May 2023 on Russian social media. The Kremlin released a statement calling it a “planned terrorist attack,” a deliberate attempt by Ukraine to assassinate Putin, but presenting no evidence.

The president was not injured, the Kremlin stressed, threatening that “Russia reserves the right to take countermeasures, wherever and whenever it deems appropriate.”

Ukraine denied involvement in the alleged strike. "We don't attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We are defending our villages and cities," President Zelenskyy stated.

US dismisses Kremlin claim as 'ludicrous': "Obviously it's a ludicrous claim," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said. The United States has nothing to do with it. We don't even know exactly what happened here, but I can assure you the United States had no role in it whatsoever."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautions that any claims by Moscow should be taken with a “large shaker of salt.”

Read other similar cases: The US is behind protests in Georgia; The US is behind the war in Ukraine; The US is behind the sabotage of the NS pipelines; the US is behind resignations of senior Ukrainian officials; the US is behind the 2014 Ukrainian Nazi coup.

Go to search

publication/media

news.am (Archived)
RBC.ru (Archived)
dp.ru (Archived)
regnum.ru (Archived)
news.rin.ru (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 331
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 03/05/2023
  • Article language(s) Armenian, Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia, US, Ukraine
  • Keywords: Conspiracy theory, Intelligence services, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin, Anti-Russian
see more

Disinfo: Ukrainian grain destroyed Kyiv's dream of becoming an EU member state

EU members do not need cheap imported agricultural products and raw materials from Ukraine because it is leading to the destruction of local agriculture. Poland and Hungary were the first to block access to Ukrainian grain and despite the warnings from the European Commission to Budapest and Warsaw, other countries followed suit, including Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria.

May 02, 2023
Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the EU disintegration, challenging the notion of EU unity, and aiming to deflect Russia’s responsibility for the growing food crisis. This false allegation is in line with a wider pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign aiming to blame Western countries for a global food crisis engineered by Russia as part of its unjustified aggression against Ukraine.

The EU is working on solutions together with Ukraine and concerned neighbor EU Member States to address the current situation while making sure to continue supporting Ukraine and preserve its capabilities to export its grains. These exports are critical to feed the world and keep food prices down, in the face of the huge challenges posed by the Russian invasion.

Disinfo: Biolabs in Ukraine are not for peaceful purposes

Ukraine is in conflict since 2014 and, nonetheless, dozens of biolabs were placed there. Many were captured by the Russian army and evidence was presented at the UN. Western powers under the US hegemony have not offered any response. The types of pathogens in those labs are unknown, and the work is evidently not with peaceful, selfless or scientific purposes to improve the health of the population. If that were true, these biolabs would be transparent about their work and would have recognised public funding.

May 02, 2023
Disproof

The claim is an attempt to advance the long-discredited pro-Kremlin narrative about US-funded biolaboratories with military purposes in Ukraine and other countries, which pro-Kremlin outlets and Russian authorities continue promoting despite repeated debunking.

Contrary to what this disinformation story claims, there is nothing sinister about Ukraine’s civilian public health laboratories, whose work is indeed public and funded by global institutions. The country has dozens of civilian public health laboratories that work to research and mitigate the threats of dangerous diseases, some of which receive financial and other support from the US, the EU and the World Health Organization (WHO), which pro-Kremlin disinformation falsely portrayed as military sites, deliberately blurring the line between biological weapons and biological research.

Disinfo: Zelenskyy’s office threatened China with an economic crisis for supporting Russia

Zelenskyy's office threatened China with an economic crisis for supporting Russia. The adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podolyak, believes that it is time for China to decide which side it is on in the Ukrainian conflict.

May 02, 2023
Disproof

The allegation made in the headline of this disinformation story is false. Although the body of the article can be considered a factual report on Mykhaylo Podolyak’s statements, none of his reported comments can be considered as threatening China with an economic crisis, contrary to what the headline affirms. This disinformation story is a direct reaction to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and its goal is to portray the Ukrainian government as aggressive and unreasonable after China’s rapprochement.

See other examples of similar disinformation narratives based in disingenuous distortions to attack Ukraine, such as claims that Zelenskyy gets military advice from his 9-year old son, that the UN published a report on Kyiv’s discrimination against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, that Spain launched a National Strategy on WMD out of concern about corrupt Ukraine, or that the Russian Embassy in Mexico called out a Ukrainian Nazi slogan used in the press.