Mea culpa.

I should know better than to take anything Vladimir Putin says at face value. Yesterday, when it was reported that he had “apologized” to Azerbaijani President Aliyev for the crash of one of that country’s airliners in Kazakhstan, I thought it was a far better approach than Soviet leader Yuri Andropov’s response to the downing of Korean Air Flight 007 had been in 1983 — which at that time was, of course, to deny, deny, deny.

I did, however, qualify my reaction by indicating that Putin’s “apology” sounded more like a sympathy call, as he had not actually accepted responsibility for the tragedy, despite mounting evidence that the plane may have been shot down — whether knowingly or accidentally — by Russian forces stationed in the area.

Still, I should have waited a bit longer, because I had not yet seen a report of the comments made by the Kremlin’s official voice of authority, spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in a conference call with reporters. When asked about calls from Azerbaijani lawmaker Rasim Musabeyov for an apology, our old friend Peskov had this to say:

“This aviation incident is under investigation and until the conclusions are made as a result of the investigation, we do not consider ourselves entitled to give any assessments and will not do so. At the same time, we have our aviation authorities who can do this and information can only come from them. We do not consider ourselves entitled to comment on this.” [Nathan Hodge, CNN, December 27, 2024.]

Thus, Peskov has offered nothing new. Instead, he is sticking to the old, reliable tactic of talking while saying absolutely nothing — which, in Kremlin-speak, is tantamount to a denial . . . or at the very least, a delaying tactic to allow time to come up with an alternative story.

Well, at least they haven’t resorted to the old Soviet standby: “That is an internal matter” — usually followed by someone leaving the room in a huff. Not yet, anyway.

But it’s still early days.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/29/24