Why did Belousov phone Austen on 13 July? It’s now official: to prevent a Ukrainian assassination attempt against himself and Putin
In mid-July major Western media reported a phone conversation had taken place between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov at the initiative of the Russian side. But there was no information about the content of their talk other than to say that it was to forestall an attack that might result in uncontrollable escalation of the conflict between the two countries.
Even yesterday, on Russia’ most authoritative talk show The Great Game, when speaking of this phone call, the moderator said that no one knows what threat was averted.
However, today, Russia’s Deputy Minister of Defense Ryabkov and the ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova gave us precisely this information:
https://news.mail.ru/politics/62240282/?frommail=1
Apparently Russian intelligence had uncovered a plot by the Ukrainians, with support from Great Britain, to murder both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Minister of Defense during the Navy Day parade in Petersburg on 28 July. We are told that Austin was caught unawares but took the warning seriously.
This exchange of phone calls at the top of the respective military commands was said by Great Game panelists to demonstrate that notwithstanding the unprecedented mutual distrust and anger between the parties, they are still capable of constructive dialogue. It may be said to have promoted the implementation of the prisoner exchange that took place this past week as a result of similar top level discussions between the respective intelligence agencies.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024