Russian TV Pundit Calls for Fomenting Violent Attacks Against White House
Russian TV pundit and military expert Vladislav Shurygin called for inciting violent attacks on the White House in response to the recent drone attack on the Kremlin.
A clip from a Russian TV segment posted to Twitter on Friday with English subtitles by BBC Monitoring reporter Francis Scarr showed Shurygin explaining how Russia should have responded to the attack.
His remarks come after two drones hit the Kremlin in Moscow early Wednesday morning. A small explosion of the drone above the building's domed roof was caught on video that circulated online, according to CNN. It remains unclear who is responsible for the attempted strike, but Russia accused Ukraine of the "terrorist attack" and trying to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin, which Kyiv denied.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country wouldn't attack Putin or Moscow, adding that Ukraine doesn't have "enough weapon[s] for this." Meanwhile, there has been speculation that the Kremlin likely staged the attack to justify future mobilization efforts of Putin's troops in the war in Ukraine. However, others believe such a move would be too humiliating for the Russian leader.
Russian police officers guard the Red Square in front of the Kremlin on Wednesday in Moscow. Russian officials have blamed Ukraine after a drone attack on the Kremlin on May 2. Russian TV pundit and military expert Vladislav Shurygin called for inciting violent attacks on the White House in response to the recent drone attack on the Kremlin. Photo by Contributor/Getty Images
Russia also alleged that the United States directed the drone attack, which John Kirby, the National Security Council's Coordinator for Strategic Communications, called "ridiculous," according to CNN. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. doesn't know who is behind the strike, and told The Washington Post on Wednesday, "I would take anything coming out of the Kremlin with a very large shaker of salt."
During his TV appearance, Shurygin suggested ways in which the Kremlin should respond to the attack.
"Certainly to be honest in this case, I am a militarist as always and the responses from our foreign ministry always gives me toothache. Because I believe we should act in an entirely different way and that for a long time, more than the country has needed the foreign ministry, it's needed [former lieutenant general from the Soviet-era] Pavel Sudoplatov who in this case would have responded appropriately and directly," he said, whose name is on on Ukraine's sanctions list for justifying the Russia's invasion and distorting information about the war, according to War & Sanctions.
Shurygin then suggested that Russia should react to the drone attack by pushing some "group of Black Panthers" to "suddenly hit the White House with something," adding that by doing so, they would be taking revenge of "centuries of African slavery." The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) was founded in 1966 to advocate for Black nationalism and armed self-defense against police brutality. It then dissolved in 1982 partially because of differences within the group.
"That would be the correct way to respond, you know. Everything else is just words," he said, adding that "when they realize the roof of the White House is burning, they'll think more about whether to control their Ukrainian dogs."
Vladislav Shurygin wants Russia to react to the alleged Kremlin drone attack by getting an American black rights group to attack the White House
(He also thinks the Black Panthers were called the "Green" Panthers for some reason) pic.twitter.com/2ghKLd2BlF — Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) May 5, 2023
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Wednesday that the drone strike might have been conducted internally and staged by Russia "to bring the war home to a Russian domestic audience and set conditions for a wider societal mobilization."
Meanwhile, David Silbey, associate professor of history at Cornell University, told Newsweek on Thursday that the purported strike "could be a Russian false flag operation" to justify further Russian mobilization efforts.
"They've already tried assassinating Zelensky. The same logic of deterrence with nuclear weapons still applies," he said in emailed comments.
Ukraine is currently preparing for its expected spring counteroffensive to take back its territories that have been occupied by Russia since the war began last February. The country's military capabilities have been bolstered by Western aid in recent months, which included advanced military equipment, tanks, and artillery.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian foreign affairs ministry and the White House for comment.
Source: Newsweek
