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| https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/03/15/678598/Croatia-Ukraine-Russia-Drone-Tupolev-TU-141 |
On 10 March 2022, shortly after 11 pm, a Tupolev Tu-141 reconnaissance
drone crashed in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Initially, many
citizens took to social media after having witnessed the loud sound of
engines and the glare of an unidentified object in the sky above the city, as well as an explosion that was felt kilometers away.
Shortly
afterwards an impact crater was found some 50 m away from the city's
largest dormitory which accommodates thousands of students. Fortunately,
there were no fatalities, the UAV's impact on the ground knocked one
man off his bicycle and damaged tens of cars parked nearby.
People
began to gather around and photos of the debris from the crash site
began circulating on social media, finding their way to military
analysts who identified the aircraft as a Soviet-era unmanned aerial
vehicle. The darkest assumptions thus proved correct, the Russia-Ukraine
conflict raging more than a thousand kilometers away, just knocked on
their door.
The shocked public began to ask questions: where was
it launched from? Who launched it, and why? Is it an intentional act or
some mistake? Today, six days later, the Croatian government still
refuses to answer any of these questions.
Some twelve hours after
the accident, Croatian officials began making their first statements,
only confirming what was already known thanks to independent analysts.
They announced that it was indeed a Tu-141 drone, and that it came from
the direction of Ukraine, without specifying which side launched it.
The
only new useful information was that the UAV first entered Romania and
flew for 3 minutes, after which, it continued flying through Hungarian
airspace for the next 40 minutes and finally through Croatian airspace
for the last 7 minutes. All three NATO member states, as well as the
NATO Integrated Air Defense System, claimed to have monitored the
14-meter-long 6-ton drone with radar but bizarrely failed to react.
There
were no fighter jets being scrambled, no anti-aircraft missiles fired,
nor even air raid sirens in Zagreb. The discussion in the following days
mainly revolved around who should have reacted. Politicians and the
media generally avoided naming the main culprit, but began talking about
"a Russian-made drone," indirectly accusing Russia of having launching
it.
It isn't like Russia lacked a motive for doing so, since
Croatia has joined in the imposition of severe sanctions against Russia,
obediently following directives from Brussels and Washington, and even
sent weapons, ammunition and military equipment to the Ukrainian
infantry.
The Croatian media unanimously took a pro-Ukrainian
stance, many even jingoistic toward Russia, so public Russophobia is at
its peak. Several media outlets praised right-wing extremists fighting
in Ukraine as heroic celebrities, and even offered contacts for
recruiting new mercenaries.
Russia consequently summoned
Croatia's defense attaché to the Defence Ministry over information that
hundreds of Croatian mercenaries had gone to fight in the Ukraine, but
the attaché refused to accept the diplomatic summons, claiming that
neither Croatia's Defence Ministry nor any other Croatian governmental
institution has any connection to those individuals.
In fact,
Croatia proclaimed that it has no intention of stopping or criminalizing
such illegal activities. Croatia's Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, in
contrast to President Zoran Milanovic who expressed balanced views on
the conflict, openly described himself as "proud to be a Russian enemy."
Although
Russia may be angry at Croatia, as it is with many other countries with
similar behavior, it sounds quite unconvincing that as a powerful
country it would commit a terrorist-like act on a non-strategic civilian
target, only against Croatia, and during the ongoing conflict. Such
hostile action, overt or covert, would be of a zero benefit to Russia.
Besides, even if Croatia changes its policy and declares itself an ally
of Moscow, it would not help Russia in the military, political and
economic sense.
As a matter of fact, any Russian involvement in
the incident could benefit only Ukraine and its warmonger allies, as it
would give them a perfect pretext to establish a NATO-led no-fly zone
over Ukraine, something which Ukrainian politicians have been
desperately seeking for days. This scenario includes a false flag
operation with faked evidence for the world audience, and Croatia as a
country devoid of an air force or any credible air defense systems, is
an ideal target.
But unfortunately for the perpetrators, things
did not go according to plan: the crash landing on a soft green area was
relatively soft, enough for the debris with markings to stay preserved,
and the appearance of witnesses who photographed them made it
impossible for government services to conceal key evidences.
All
technical evidence clearly points to direct Ukrainian responsibility.
Firstly, the alleged "Russian-made drone" was actually built in the
Soviet Ukraine during the Cold War, and today it is in service only with
the Ukrainian Armed Forces. There is no evidence of Russian use in the
last 33 years. Secondly, taking into account the known flight time over
the three countries, the cruising speed and the maximum range of 1,000
km, the Tu-141 obviously took off from a mobile launcher at the
Vinnytsia Airbase in western Ukraine.
This is exactly 1,024 km
away from the Zagreb crash site (see map above). The city of Vinnytsia,
which is under Ukrainian control, serves as the headquarters of the
Ukrainian Air Force Command, and is known for operating Tu-141 drones.
The speculative launch from Belarus, Transnistria or Russian-controlled
areas of Ukraine (implying Russian responsibility) simply does not fit
into the range and linear flight, and the latter also refutes claims
that it malfunctioned and went off course. Furthermore, the fact that
the drone did not hit some Eastern European empty fields but the capital
of a NATO member state clearly reveals that the strike was intentional.
Another
important piece of evidence was inadvertently revealed by the
Ukrainians themselves in an attempt to refute their own involvement. On
the same day that the Tu-141 crashed in Zagreb, another drone of the
same type was shot down over Crimea by the Russian anti-aircraft system.
In
both cases the Ukrainians denied that the drones belong to them,
arguing that the photos of the wreckage show a red five-pointed star,
which was historically used by Soviets and today by Russians, while
theirs uses the Ukrainian coat of arms as the insignia. However, a
closer analysis of the markings suggests quite the opposite.
As
can be seen in many photos of the Tu-141 drones in Ukrainian service,
Ukrainians simply pasted their markings over older Soviet stars (middle
picture below), and this was done with some cheap material that
obviously did not withstand flight or fire. If you take a closer look at
the tail of both crashed drones, you will notice the burnt shape of the
Ukrainian coat of arms, marked with red circles (left and right image
below). In other words, Ukraine lied.
The above-mentioned details
have, without a doubt, been known to the Croatian intelligence agencies
since the first day, but the government continues to deceive its own
nation and the European public by insisting that the main perpetrator is
unknown, that the investigation is still ongoing, that facts are still
being gathered, and so on, instead of acknowledging that it was a
deliberate Ukrainian act, however, politicians and the media prefer to
speculate about "drone malfunctions" and "pro-Russian separatists."
There
are two reasons for such spinning. The first being that it is difficult
for the Croatian authorities to admit that their dear friend Ukraine,
which they supported in all possible ways, committed a hostile act that
almost killed dozens of students.
This would seriously shake the pro-Ukrainian government in Zagreb since much of the Croatian public would turn against Ukraine.
The
second reason is of a far more insidious nature: it is hard to believe
that the failed Ukrainian false flag operation was carried out without
the express knowledge and complicity of a major NATO player whose radars
and spy planes have complete control of the European skies.
And when the United States tells its puppets to keep their mouths shut, they must obey, or face untold consequences.
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