John Helmer, reporting from Moscow, has reconstructed a timeline showing that Russia’s Security Council met on Friday, hours before the U.S. and Israeli strikes began, and said nothing. Unless Russian intelligence had suffered an unprecedented failure, Moscow knew the attack was imminent. The Kremlin communiqué mentioned only “steps needed to strengthen the constitutional order.”
According to Helmer’s account, the condemnations came only after the bombs fell. On Saturday, the Foreign Ministry called the strikes “a deliberate, premeditated, and unprovoked act of armed aggression.” Lavrov phoned his Iranian counterpart more than five hours after daylight attacks on Tehran had begun. A second Security Council session followed that afternoon. A full day later, Putin sent condolences over the killing of Khamenei, calling it an act “committed in cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law.”
Lavrov spoke with China’s Wang Yi on Saturday evening. Both condemned the strikes and stressed “the unity of Moscow’s and Beijing’s positions.” But the Chinese readout noted it was Lavrov who requested the call. Wang called for “an immediate cessation of military operations,” but, like Moscow, offered words only.
