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Mike Brest, Defense Reporter


NextImg:US unsure of Putin assassination claims but warns of potential misinformation

The United States intelligence community does not have the necessary information yet to form an opinion on Russia's claim that Ukraine tried to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Lieutenant General Scott D. Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, discussed the alleged plot before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday while offering testimony on threats to the U.S.

BLINKEN SAYS PUTIN ASSASSINATION CLAIMS SHOULD BE TAKEN WITH 'A VERY LARGE SHAKER OF SALT'

The Russians claimed on Wednesday that they downed two Ukrainian drones over the Kremlin, an accusation Ukrainian officials have disputed. The Russian military said it disabled the drones using its electronic warfare systems and that no one was injured in the falling debris. Putin was not in the Kremlin at the time of the supposed attack.

“You've seen the Ukrainian government deny their having engaged in this. And, at this stage, we don't have information that would allow us to provide an independent assessment on this,” Haines said, while Berrier said Russia’s claim that Ukraine tried to assassinate Putin, at the direction of the U.S., which the U.S. has denied, was likely “misinformation.”

In a back-and-forth with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK), the ODNI chief affirmed that Ukraine denied this attack, whereas, in past attacks against Russia, Ukraine has been “ambiguous or silent about responsibility for the attacks.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that the U.S. couldn't verify the allegations but added, "I would take anything coming out of the Kremlin with a very large shaker of salt.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, “We are well aware that decisions on such actions and such terrorist attacks are not made in Kyiv, but in Washington. And Kyiv is already executing what it is told to do. Such attempts to disown this both in Kyiv and in Washington are, of course, absolutely ridiculous."

U.S. National Security Council coordinator John Kirby accused him of "lying."

"I would just tell you Mr. Peskov's lying. I mean, it's obviously a ludicrous claim. The United States had nothing to do with this. We don't even know exactly what happened here," Kirby said on CNN Thursday morning. "But I can assure you the United States had no role in it whatsoever."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The Kremlin threatened to retaliate for the alleged plot, which raised questions as to whether this could be a Russian false flag operation designed to be a staged provocation to justify a reaction, which is a ploy they've attempted many times over.

In its latest update, the Institute for the Study of War suggested that “Russia likely staged this attack in an attempt to bring the war home to a Russian domestic audience and set conditions for a wider societal mobilization,” arguing it is “extremely unlikely that 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.”