Fake or not, the Kremlin attack is extremely humiliating for Putin

Vladimir Putin's air defense system may not be as strong as originally thought

An image of an explosion on the roof of the Kremlin with a huge banner advertising the Victory Parade May 9, which will be visible on the ground below, will be one of the most embarrassing pictures in all the years of Vladimir Putin's regime.

Regardless of who is responsible and what their motivation was, this is a very meaningful image that will forever go down in the history of Moscow.

It is not at all clear who is responsible; A quick rebuttal by Ukraine in no way makes it easier to establish authorship.

Some speculate that this is a false flag attack staged by the Kremlin to justify further atrocities. They indicate how the news was produced and distributed through government channels. But there are consequences to an attack, no matter who or what ends up behind it.

Focus on what we know or are being asked to believe.

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We are being presented as fact with the idea that something penetrated the numerous echelons of Russian air defense that surrounded Moscow.

Most recently, in January of this year, reports from the Russian capital showed that Pantsir air defense systems (and possibly high-tech S-400s) were deployed on the roof of the building of the Russian Ministry of Defense in central Moscow and the Department of Education, located about 2 km from him.

Even if it was a conspiracy concocted in the Kremlin, the idea that anyone in the capital, including the president, could be instantly vaporized by an incompetent air defense network would play on Russian minds. .

Putin may have invented this farce to ensure a soft landing for any announcement of full mobilization for war.

But there are less embarrassing ways to stir up national hysteria — a car bomb at the Kremlin. , say, or even the Ukrainian «terrorist act».

If it really was a «false flag», then Putin is playing with fire.

Drone attack on the Kremlin

A panicking and angry public will be hard to calm down after surviving a year of this special military operation and seeing, among other Ukrainian successes, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet «Moskva», thrown to the bottom broken.

The US response will be indicative. The thought of Ukraine striking outside its borders has long made officials in Washington nervous.

If this was a Ukrainian attack that developed a fleet of long-range precision drones, and they didn't explain their intentions to the US beforehand, which could turn out to be a diplomatic oversight by Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

But he is a seasoned politician and would see the risk of drawing condemnation from his biggest military sponsor. Perhaps he viewed the attack on the Kremlin, even if it had a very low chance of killing Putin himself, as a propaganda coup significant enough to be worth arguing with Washington.

Regardless of who is behind this attack , we are told to believe that the Russian air defense network is so incompetent that it is unable to prevent a strike on the center of the country's capital.

This is an extraordinary thought and a national humiliation for Russia.