Assassinations of Ukrainian opposition politicians and journalists were promoted and organized after the 2014 coup in Ukraine. Targeted assassinations of non-Ukrainians in other countries were announced in 2022 and initiated with the car-bombing of Darya Dugina in Moscow. Since then, several Russian generals have been assassinated in and around their homes. However, two weeks ago, the new head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Blaise Metreweli, apparently opened the door to the assassination of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
In her maiden speech on Dec. 15, the new MI6 head argued that, since Russia is behind assassination plots, sabotage, cyber-attacks, and the manipulation of information, this means that “the frontline is everywhere.” Now, the U.K. faces a new “age of uncertainty” in which the rules of conflict are being rewritten, particularly in light of alleged wider Kremlin aggression. Further, Russia is deliberately creating “chaos” in the West: “The export of chaos is a feature, not a bug, in the Russian approach to international engagement.” So, Metreweli concluded, “until Putin is forced to change his calculus,” this will continue.
Then, on Christmas Eve, the acting president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted his Christmas video message complete with Christmas tree, decorations, and soft candlelight. Then his bizarrely chilling message: Russia is godless, but Ukrainians know that “on Christmas Eve, the heavens are open; and if you tell them your dream, it will surely come true. Today, we all share one dream. And we make one wish—for all of us.” Then in a dark tone, he stated “chto-by on Skokh!” or “that he drop dead!” This is what “each of us may think to ourselves,” he said, qualifying that Ukrainians pray to God for something greater, for peace for Ukraine.
Today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov alluded to Zelenskyy’s Christmas Eve message, stating that the attempted assault in the early morning of Dec. 30 on Putin’s Valdai residence was “an act of terrorism aimed at derailing the negotiations, and not [at] just President Putin personally…. This was directed against Trump, against President Trump’s efforts to facilitate peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict.” RT reported that Peskov also said that the tone of the conversation between Putin and Trump on Dec. 29 proved that the “provocation” could not undermine the trust built by the two Presidents.
