White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Thursday dismissed the suggestion the United States was involved in an alleged drone attack against Moscow as a “blatant, bold lie.”
Kirby, speaking to reporters at the White House, declined to speculate on what happened or who was responsible after two drones struck Moscow early Wednesday morning in what the Russian government has described as an attempted attack on President Vladimir Putin.
But Kirby strongly rejected an assertion from Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov that the United States had coordinated with the Ukrainian government on the attack.
“One thing I can tell you for certain is that the United States was not involved in this incident in any way, contrary to Mr. Peskov’s lies. And that’s what they are, just lies,” Kirby said.
“I think we’ve been pretty clear that what Mr. Peskov says is just a blatant, bald lie,” Kirby added when asked if the White House had communicated their views to Moscow. “And I don’t know that we need to privately convey that to him. I’ve been saying it all morning, and I’m saying it here today.”
Kirby said the U.S. is not formally investigating the incident in Moscow, but that officials are looking into what happened.
The Kremlin accusation comes as Russia has increased attacks in Ukraine, including missile strikes that have killed scores in the country. Late last week, a barrage of missiles left 25 dead across cities in Ukraine, including 23 civilians — four of them children — in the central city of Uman, officials said.
“From the very beginning, the Russians have been trying to paint this war as some sort of fight with the West against Russia, NATO against Russia, the United States against Russia,” Kirby said. “So, it perfectly fits in his frame, the framing that President Putin has tried to label this war as.”
Source: The Hill
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