Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday: “Europe is a target for our missiles, our country is a target for US missiles in Europe.” He added: “We have the capacity to keep these missiles in check, but the potential victims are the capitals of these European countries.”
A few days ago, the USA and Germany announced the stationing of long-range US missiles in Germany from 2026. In a statement on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington last week, the specific missiles mentioned were longer-range missiles of the SM-6 type and Tomahawk missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, which can also be equipped with nuclear weapons, as well as hypersonic missiles under development, which would significantly increase the range of existing missiles in Europe. The stationing is intended to underline the USA’s commitment to NATO and its contribution to deterring Russia.
The Kremlin had already sharply criticized the decision on Thursday. This was a further step “towards the Cold War,” Peskov said. He also accused the USA, Germany, France and Great Britain of being directly involved “in the conflict surrounding Ukraine.”
Kyiv intelligence chief: There were plans to murder Putin
According to Ukrainian military intelligence, there have been several assassination attempts once morest Russian President Vladimir Putin. “But as you can see, they were unsuccessful,” said intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov to an interviewer from the Ukrainian portal “New Voice”. The general gave no indication of what his claim was based on. He also did not say that his service or other Kiev intelligence services might be involved in such plans.
But Budanov is known for provocations, which are part of his psychological warfare. The Kremlin reacted to the statement: Spokesman Dmitri Peskov made it clear that the security of the first man in Russia was adequately ensured. “The threat from the Kiev regime is obvious,” he told the state news agency Tass in Moscow.
Budanov added fuel to the fire by saying that Putin was no longer the compromise figure recognized by all in the Russian elite. But because he has been in power for more than 20 years, the Russians are afraid of losing him. Therefore, he expects that following Putin’s death, the same thing will happen as following the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953. For people in the Soviet Union, “their whole world collapsed at that time, they didn’t know how to go on living,” said the head of military intelligence.
Little is known regarding attempted assassinations on Putin during his long time as Kremlin chief. In May 2022, Budanov claimed that an assassination attempt by men from the Caucasus failed a few days following the war of aggression once morest Ukraine ordered by Putin. There was no evidence of this.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once said in an interview that he had stopped counting the number of assassination attempts once morest him. Immediately following the Russian invasion in February 2022, Russian special forces hunted him down in Kyiv. Most recently, in May of this year, the top of the personal security team was reorganized. Two officers were allegedly hired by Moscow to assassinate Zelensky, Budanov and other Ukrainian officials.
