(FiveNation.com)- A Putin ally issued a cryptic message on her Telegram channel referring to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, an event that almost caused nuclear warfare between the United States and the then-Soviet Union, according to Newsweek.
Margarita Simonyan, who heads the state-run media outlet RT, posted, “Good morning, 1962,” after two missiles from Russia allegedly went into Poland, a NATO country, resulting in the deaths of two. The attack also caused a massive power outage in Moldova after a key power line was hit in the strike.
Shortly after the attack, however, Simonyan doubted what many were reporting, that Russia was responsible.
“Before you accuse a country capable of erasing Poland into nuclear ashes, take the trouble to present evidence,” she said, suggesting that the likelihood of the missile coming from Ukraine, even if it was a mistake, was much greater.
Poland has since acknowledged that the missiles that struck its land were Ukrainian. Polish President Andrzej Duda called the event an “unfortunate accident,” adding that there is no evidence the missiles were fired by Russian forces, but that there was evidence it came from Ukraine’s anti-missile defense.
An investigation by NATO, the U.S., and Poland remains ongoing. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to say that he has “no doubt” his country had nothing to do with the incident, adding that he wants evidence proving the contrary. He also said that his top military commanders have assured him that it was not Ukraine’s missile that entered NATO territory.
Zelensky also reiterated the importance of fairness, suggesting that conclusions about what happened should be reserved until after the investigation is complete and that Ukraine should be part of that investigation.
“It is only fair,” he said.
NATO members nevertheless continue to place the responsibility on Russia, with the alliance’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg saying that Russia is waging an “illegal war.”
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that after studying the images of the explosion, the rocket fragments were fired from a Ukrainian S-300 surface-to-air missile system.
