Why did Belousov phone Austin on 13 July? It’s now official: to prevent a Ukrainian assassination attempt against himself and Putin

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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

Postscript, 7 August:  Today’s edition of the quasi-governmental Rossiyskaya Gazeta (banned in the EU as a disseminator of fake news) carries an article headlined: “Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that the interpretation of Ryabkov’s words regarding provocations during the Navy Parade was incorrect.”

According to RG, in an interview with the state television station Rossiya 1 deputy minister Ryabkov had merely declined to answer a direct question about preparations for an attempted assassination and had said only that ‘there is a certain connection with this kind of event.’

I consider this finessing of the language to be no more than a test of wills between the hard line Ryabkov and his, shall we say, ‘gently, gently’ boss Sergey Lavrov.  Surely only the risk of some devastating attack on Russia could have prompted Belousov to lift the telephone from its cradle and phone Austin.

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Published by gilbertdoctorow

Gilbert Doctorow's latest book, "War Diaries. The Russia-Ukraine War, 2022-2023" is a unique contribution to literature on the war thanks to the author's reports on the Russian home front written during his periodic visits to St Petersburg at a time when Russia no longer issued visas and nearly all Western journalists had left the country. Doctorow's two-volume "Memoirs of a Russianist" published in 2020 also constitutes a category of its own, consisting largely of diary entries rather than reminiscences written decades later.. Volume 2 focuses on the community of 50,000 expatriate managers working and living in Moscow during the 1990s, about which none of his peers has yet to write. Gilbert Doctorow is a professional Russia watcher and actor in Russian affairs going back to 1965. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (1967), a past Fulbright scholar, and holder of a Ph.D. with honors in history from Columbia University (1975). After completing his studies, Mr. Doctorow pursued a business career focused on the USSR and Eastern Europe. For twenty-five years he worked for US and European multinationals in marketing and general management with regional responsibility. From 1998-2002, Doctorow served as the Chairman of the Russian Booker Literary Prize in Moscow. During the 2010-2011 academic year, he was a Visiting scholar of the Harriman Institute, Columbia University. Mr. Doctorow is a long-time resident of Brussels.

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6 thoughts on “Why did Belousov phone Austin on 13 July? It’s now official: to prevent a Ukrainian assassination attempt against himself and Putin”

  1. I seriously doubt Mr. Austin was surprised about the Ukrainian plans to murder Pres. Putin: Zelensky and Budanov are both subordinate to Washington’s will, I truly believe they merely execute orders from above (Biden himself?) and wouldn’t dare to act independently.

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  2. “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.”

    Surely, you will agree exactly the opposite interpretation is possible. Namely, that President Putin is getting his house in order (Assad’s quick visit for example), before all hell breaks loose in the Middle East, definitely involving Russia. His meeting and embracing Vadim Krasikov, the first off the plane, at the airport, something he has never done for a head of state, certainly speaks to the importance he attached to this exchange, which would surely become impossible in the event of a nuclear war in the Middle East.

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    1. No, I would not ‘surely agree’ to your alternative explanation. If there is a war and half the world is blown to bits, why would Putin or anyone else care about a prisoner exchange? The reason for haste was to do this before the change of administrations in Washjington. The Russians would have to start from zero again with Harris & Co., while they have no confidence in being able to agree anything at all with Trump

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      1. Russia is currently delivering advanced air defense systems to Iran. My read of Israel’s leadership is that they believe they are facing “the end of times” and are itching to deliver a nuclear strike on Iran. Whatever President Putin can and cannot do, he cannot control the crazies ruling Israel which means he cannot control an imminent nuclear conflict.

        Interestingly, and I wonder what your opinion is, it seems as though Harris wants to go her own way. Now if she were elected and appointed Blinken Secretary of State that would answer the question. But we shall see. Do you see a sliver of daylight between her and Biden?

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  4. Official reaction on the topic from the Russian Foreign Ministry (published yesterday): “The Foreign Ministry reported that the agency “drew attention to information that appeared in the media about an assassination attempt being prepared by Kiev” on Putin and Belousov “while they were” at the parade. As the ministry emphasized, these media reports were “the result of journalists’ incorrect interpretation” of Ryabkov’s interview. The Foreign Ministry’s message on the VKontakte social network indicated that Ryabkov did not touch on “details that fall within the competence of other agencies” in the interview. At the same time, when asked directly whether “an action was being prepared at the Main Naval Parade,” Ryabkov “did not answer in the affirmative, only acknowledging the presence of “a certain connection with this kind of event,” the Foreign Ministry emphasized. Recall that on the air of the Russia 1 TV channel, the deputy minister called the provocation being prepared by Ukraine a “very alarming” episode, which was planned in connection “with our internal events in order to inflict maximum damage and obtain the maximum media effect they need.”

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