Putin on drone attack on Moscow

On May 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin came to the Zotov Center for Constructivism to meet with representatives of the creative industry, but in fact, the special correspondent of Kommersant believes Andrey Kolesnikov, to answer the question what it was. On that day, the city could not think of anything but the attack of drones.

The Zotov Center, former bakery No. 5, is not empty on Krasnaya Presnya. Last week, significant awards from the Internet Development Institute were announced here, and now it was decided to hold a meeting of representatives of the creative industry with Vladimir Putin.

The meeting was planned in advance, its participants kept a week-long quarantine as it should be. However, it was on this day that a meeting in the city center in an ordinary house surrounded by other houses, moreover, apartment buildings, would already look like an act. So the attendees I spoke to before the meeting were worried that a week in isolation would go down the drain and the meeting would be rescheduled. The rest of the dangers, in my opinion, did not bother them so much.

The head of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), Svetlana Chupsheva, asked Vladimir Putin from the doorstep about the morning drone attack on Moscow.

Obviously, it was decided that he would not react in the mode of a meaningful appeal to the viewers (that would be too much), but in the mode of answering a question. And there was no one else to ask this question (there were no journalists in the “clean zone”). So Svetlana Chupsheva immediately interviewed the president:

– In the morning there was an attack of drones on Moscow and the Moscow region. Can you give an assessment of what happened and what measures need to be taken to prevent this from happening again? And how should we respond to this?

The last question was, it seems, not journalistic, but female.

Vladimir Putin, as usual, began from afar:

“You know, it all started a long time ago. I literally take two steps from the center of the field only … I’ll have to repeat it.

And he repeated:

– After the collapse of the USSR, it was inevitable that there would be some kind of competition between Russia and Ukraine – this goes without saying, but apparently those who were involved in this proceeded from the fact that everything would happen in a civilized way and, moreover, on the basis of our proximity, common historical, cultural, linguistic and so on. But things went the other way, unfortunately, which is also to be expected.

Some news, however, was that the global cause of what is happening is the inevitable competition between the two powers that were born as a result of the collapse of the USSR, which simply went the wrong way. So far, Vladimir Putin has not spoken about this.

“Basically, the territory called Ukraine was controlled from the very beginning by people who, led from the West (no way without it.— A.K.), embarked on the path of fighting not just with Russia, but creating anti-Russia on this territory,” the president continued, standing on the threshold of the Zotov center for the time being (and ahead of him was an exhibition of representatives of creative industries.— A.K.). They had to reckon with the people who lived in the south-east of Ukraine – these are voters, a large number of voters, they were forced to reckon!

This is something that should always be taken into account. And this argument in favor of peace in Ukraine, or rather, as it turns out, a protracted truce between the east and west of the country was also new.

Unfortunately, the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, will also now have to reckon with the fact that before the elections in his city, several drones flew into residential buildings.

– Let me also remind you that during the formation of independent Ukraine from the very beginning, from the first step, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state. In the Declaration of Independence (Ukraine. Wow, Vladimir Putin read it.— A.K.) and it is spelled out, – Vladimir Putin actually remembered a lot of new things, or rather, what he had not mentioned before.

“Instead, they gradually took a different path – joining NATO, an organization that is hostile to Russia and was created solely to fight the Soviet Union, Russia.

In general, Ukraine wanted to join, first of all, the European Union, and not NATO. And for this, first of all, there was a certain Yanukovych, who changed his mind when Mr. Putin pulled him up, but it was too late.

– And in 2008, without any external signs, any military-political tension, they announced that they were joining NATO, they wanted to join NATO, and the Western countries – the countries of the alliance – in Bucharest, in my opinion, at the summit announced that that the doors to NATO are open for Ukraine,” the president said.

But with Russia at one time, as you know, they did not rush into NATO … Is it really jealousy?

– Not only were we deceived and told that there would be no movement of NATO to the east, but here they also reached Ukraine. Well, okay,” Vladimir Putin continued his story.

It was, of course, interesting how he intended to launch a morning drone attack in Moscow.

– In 2014, as you know, they carried out a coup d’état and simply began to destroy everyone who in one way or another would like to build normal relations with Russia. And besides this, they started a war in the Donbass, military operations. Then they deceived everyone in order to lull their vigilance, declaring that they want to resolve the issue by peaceful means.

So Vladimir Putin more than briefly retold the course of the modern history of Ukraine.

– Now they are already openly saying that they were deceiving only in order to accumulate strength and unleash hostilities, including against Crimea. Now, as you know, we have reached the strikes of drones.

So the viewers of the Russia 24 TV channel, who were the first to hear this remark, finally reached them.

– The Russian armed forces, which were forced to respond, Russia was forced to respond to the war unleashed by the Ukrainian regime in the Donbass, we were all forced to respond by launching a special military operation! – Before that, Vladimir Putin was absolutely calm, but now he is simply calm. – They strike at the territory of Ukraine (the armed forces of the Russian Federation. – A.K.), but with high-precision long-range weapons precisely at military infrastructure facilities, or at warehouses with ammunition, or fuels and lubricants (fuel and lubricants.— “b”) used for warfare.

Vladimir Putin told why drones flew to Moscow:

– We have already talked about the possibility of strikes at decision-making headquarters, at decision-making centers. Of course, the military intelligence headquarters of Ukraine, which was attacked two or three days ago, also belongs to this category.

Interestingly, the level of repulse of the attack did not satisfy the Supreme Commander:

— Firstly, I want to say that the air defense system (air defense.— “b”) Moscow has worked regularly, satisfactorily, although there is something to work on. We encountered the same problems at the Khmeimim airfield in Syria, and the territory of our own Khmeimim airbase and Moscow, a huge European metropolis, simply cannot be compared. But in general, it is clear what needs to be done to seal the air defense of the capital, and we will do it.

The problem with low-altitude drones at the Khmeimim base was once solved by intercepting control of these drones. Possibly, even now Mr. Putin meant something like that.

“But it’s not so much that worries me, but the attempts to evoke a response from Russia. Apparently, this is calculated: they provoke us to mirror actions. Let’s see what we can do about it,” he added.

And here it is worth recalling his defiant indifference to the drone that appeared over the tower of the First Corps of the Kremlin (“Only 400 grams of TNT …” – he shrugged his shoulders at a meeting with the chief editors.— A.K.). In his opinion, there is nowhere to hurry with the answer.

“But the citizens of Ukraine, who, of course, do not have a word now, since total terror has been unleashed against the civilian population in Ukraine, should still know what the current leadership of this country is pushing for, and simply understand that there are still other threats associated, for example, with attempts to disrupt work at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant or use some kind of “dirty” devices of this kind related to the nuclear industry. We have already spoken about this more than once: we know what is on their minds — the Russian president wanted to disturb the citizens of Ukraine too, but at that moment he was definitely not talking to them.

It seems that the danger associated with the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is becoming more and more real.

“It is clear that no matter what we say, they will always look for the guilty precisely in Russia, but this is not so,” the Russian president said. and we do not use the means that Ukrainian bigwigs use.

You have to understand that Vladimir Putin will always say this. This is something that will not change under any circumstances. Russia did not attack Ukraine – this is the version that claims to be canonical in Russia. This is what will be taught in elementary and middle grades.

It’s better not to take risks in seniors.

“And another confirmation of this is this attack on peaceful targets in Moscow,” Vladimir Putin said. “But I repeat once again: the air defense system in our capital worked properly. There is something to work on, I repeat once again, and we know what needs to be done,” the president repeated the version for news agencies and Telegram channels (before that it was for evening federal television news.— A.K.).

– Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich! We believe in our victory! exclaimed Svetlana Chupsheva.

The main thing is to someday understand what our victory is.

Andrey Kolesnikov