DISINFO: US finances Ukrainian attempts to assasinate Putin
SUMMARY
One of the leaders of the Kyiv regime [Kirill] Budanov openly admitted that Ukrainian intelligence was preparing assassination attempts on the President of Russia. So this assassination attempt was prepared, again, with American money, without which no malicious activity of the State Intelligence Directorate (GUR) or the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) would have taken place. With massive funding and an uncontrolled supply of weapons, Washington has created a terrorist structure in Ukraine - the Kyiv regime. This is a machine of murders, explosions, destruction, and terrorist attacks against both political figures and the civilian population.
RESPONSE
Unfounded claim, with no evidence provided. The claim also fits well in the recurrent disinformation narrative about the West’s alleged support for terrorism and manifests Russia as the only power actually “fighting terrorism” in the world.
This disinformation story is an attempt to portray Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion in a negative light by framing it as “terrorism”. The ultimate goal of this disinformation narrative is to erode international support for Ukraine in its legitimate self-defence against Russian aggression, and to dilute Russia’s responsibility for the war.
In an interview, Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, said that there have been attempts to destroy Putin for a long time, but none of them have been successful. At the same time, Budanov did not state that it was Ukraine that tried to organise assassination attempts on Putin.
This is not the first time that Budanov has voiced information about attempts by some forces to kill the Russian President. For example, in 2022, he said to Ukrainskaya Pravda,"There was even an attempt on him by representatives of the Caucasus not so long ago." At that time, Budanov’s statements did not have such resonance in Russia.
There is no framework under international legislation in which US -or any other country’s- assistance to Ukraine can be regarded as “sponsoring terrorism”. Ukraine is illegally attacked by Russia and has the right to self-defence by all means available. More than 50 countries throughout the world support Ukraine with military and financial aid for the country’s effective self-defence, under the UN Charter Article 51, to stop Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. It has the right to liberate and regain full control of all occupied territories within its internationally recognised borders.
The use of terrorism has been documented in Russia and on 13 October 2022 the PACE recognised the Russian regime as terrorist. On 23 November, 2022 the European Parliament voted on a resolution labelling Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. As this body has argued, the deliberate attacks and atrocities committed by Russian forces and their proxies against civilians in Ukraine, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and other serious violations of international and humanitarian law amount to acts of terror and constitute war crimes. In light of this, MEPs recognise Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and as a state that “uses means of terrorism”.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Biden is sponsoring terrorism in Ukraine, that The US supports terrorism in Ukraine, that Western arms support to Ukraine failing, backing international terrorists, and that Ukraine is a terrorist state and the West is to blame for guiding Kyiv.