Kremlin spokesman says drone posed 'ephemeral threat’ to Zelenskyy's plane

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that a drone posed no threat to a plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from Moldova.

Speaking at a media briefing in Moscow, Peskov said the alleged "threat" posed by a drone to Zelenskyy's aircraft at the Chisinau airport was "ephemeral" and did not exist, as the Ukrainians had already acknowledged.

"As for this ephemeral 'threat' to the aircraft — it did not exist. The Ukrainians themselves have already acknowledged this," he said, commenting on reports that Zelenskyy's aircraft allegedly has been threatened by a UAV in Moldova.

Peskov described the reported detention of a Ukrainian national carrying a drone and explosives at the Moldovan border as a "provocation" staged by Ukraine "to draw" the West more deeply into the war.

Commenting on a Russian Federal Security Service statement that a former security officer at the British Embassy in Moscow had been detained and identified as an agent of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) who had collected information about British diplomats, Peskov said the incident demonstrated Britain's loss of control over Ukraine.

"It is the same as Germany losing control, and Ukraine blowing up Nord Stream (gas pipelines). There are many examples like this; this is not the first one. In theory, this should be a cause for serious concern in European capitals," he said.

Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had discussed with the military measures to counter the increased intensity of Ukrainian attacks on Russian Black Sea cities.

"All these and other issues related to the special military operation are discussed by the president with the military every day, and appropriate measures are being taken," he said.

Asked if strikes on vessels in the Black Sea could negatively affect relations between Russia and Türkiye, Peskov responded negatively, saying Russia was not the initiator of the attacks.

"No, they cannot. Russia was not the initiator. I want to remind you of a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said that we did not carry out the strikes. Only after the Ukrainians began striking our civilian infrastructure and economic facilities did they open Pandora's box," he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier said Ukraine had asked Türkiye to propose a moratorium on strikes against vessels in the Black Sea, but that such a measure would be impossible to monitor.

"A huge number of commercial vessels are used to transport weapons, ammunition and fuel for the Ukrainian armed forces. These vessels are being destroyed and will continue to be destroyed," he stressed.

About media reports claiming that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) could host Russia-Ukraine peace talks, Peskov said the Arab country had repeatedly expressed its readiness to host negotiations on Ukraine, a position Moscow values.

"Our friends in Abu Dhabi have repeatedly renewed their readiness and said that they are prepared to continue offering their good offices and serve as the host for such negotiations. We are very encouraged by this and highly value the United Arab Emirates' readiness," he said.

Turning to Latvia's plans to introduce duties on grain shipments from Russia and Belarus, Peskov said that country would suffer significant losses as a result.

"This is a decision made by the country itself. Global markets are much richer than Latvia alone, and there are always alternative destinations," he said. "Latvia itself will lose a great deal because these areas of trade, so to speak, these export items, brought benefits to Latvians themselves."

He also noted that "trade wars are continuing," and that they are "apparently inspired by overseas methods of working with customs tariffs."