'Kremlin Strike' is internally conducted, purposefully staged: Report

Russia may have staged Kremlin drone strike to bring war home to domestic audience as several indicators suggest that a drone strike against the Kremlin on May 3 was internally conducted and purposefully staged by Russia.

Hyderabad: Several indicators suggest that the May 3 'Kremlin Strike' was internally conducted and purposefully staged, a repot from the Institute for the Study of War said, strengthening the Ukrainian's claim that Russia might use it as pretext to justify massive strikes in coming days.

Air defence systems-The report noted that the Russian authorities have recently taken steps to increase Russian domestic air defence capabilities, including within Moscow itself. It also have shared geolocated imagery from January showing that Russian authorities have been placing air defence systems near Moscow to create air defense circles around the city.

Public display-It is therefore extremely unlikely that the two drones could have penetrated multiple layers of air defense and detonated or been shot down just over the heart of the Kremlin in a way that provided spectacular imagery caught nicely on camera, the report read. The Kremlin’s immediate, coherent, and coordinated response to the incident further suggests that the attack was internally prepared in such a way that its intended political effects outweigh its embarrassment, the report from the policy research organization focused on US national security said.

Existential threat play-"The rapid and coherent presentation of an official Russian narrative around the strike suggests that Russia staged this incident in close proximity to the May 9th Victory Day holiday in order to frame the war as existential to its domestic audience." Some Russian nationalist milbloggers seized on the Kremlin drone strike to call for Russian escalation in the war despite the fact that Russia currently lacks the military capability to do so, the report said.

Ukraine's response-"We don't attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We are defending our villages and cities," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said, while speaking during a visit to Finland. Ukraine presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak had denied any involvement and have blamed Kremlin of planning to use it as pretext to justify massive strikes on Ukrainian cities, on the civilian population, and on infrastructure facilities in coming days.

Russian claim-In a statement carried by Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti, no casualties were reported in the attack. According to the statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin wasn’t in the Kremlin at the time and was working from the Novo-Ogaryovo residence. He added that Putin was safe and his schedule was unchanged.