John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, on Thursday denied Russia’s claims that the US was behind a drone strike rumored to have been designed to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the US was “undoubtedly” responsible for what Moscow has called a “terrorist attack.”
“Mr. Peskov is lying,” Kirby told CNN This Morning. “That’s a ridiculous claim. The United States had nothing to do with it.”
Kirby added that the US is still unclear on the details of the incident. Unnamed US officials said Politico They are working to determine whether the attack was orchestrated by Kiev or a pro-Ukrainian rogue group, or whether it was a false flag operation by the Kremlin.
“But I can assure you that the United States had no part in it,” Kirby told CNN. “We neither encourage nor enable Ukraine to strike outside Ukrainian borders.”
The New York Times verified footage shows two explosions within 15 minutes over the Kremlin overnight Wednesday.
The Kremlin said the incident was “a planned act of terrorism and an assassination attempt on the President of Russia”.
In his Thursday press conference, Peskov claimed Washington directed the attack without presenting any evidence.
“Of course, attempts to deny this both in Kiev and in Washington are absolutely ridiculous,” said the Kremlin spokesman. “We know very well that decisions about such actions, about such terrorist attacks, are not made in Kiev, but in Washington.”
Moscow previously claimed Ukraine was responsible for the attack. Kyiv has denied involvement.
“I’ve seen the reports. I cannot validate them in any way. We just don’t know,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday about Russia’s allegations of Ukraine’s involvement. “I would take anything coming out of the Kremlin with a very large salt shaker, so let’s see.”