The Russian autocrat is carrying out purges among the secret services and believes that he himself knows the situation in Ukraine better than anyone.
Since the beginning of the open invasion of Ukraine, the tense relations between Vladimir Putin and the Russian secret services have become very noticeable. Less than four weeks later, the Russian autocrat has already begun persecuting people from the security apparatus who were previously members of his entourage.
This was reported by Forus with reference to the expert in the field of Russian intelligence Andrei Soldatov. He said the war began with Putin publicly humiliating foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin. A few weeks later, punitive measures became known among the FSB intelligence unit. In particular, General Sergei Beseda and another special services officer were interrogated and placed under house arrest. In the third and most recent case, Deputy Chief of the National Guard Roman Gavrilov was dismissed.
According to Soldatov, all three cases are related to the war in Ukraine, which did not go according to plan. And the Kremlin blames the special services, especially the FSB. Because she was responsible for espionage in Ukraine and did very poorly with her work. Because the understanding of the real situation in the country was very bad.
Soldatov also explained that the big problem lies with Putin himself. After all, he adheres to his unwavering convictions about Ukraine, which he broadcasts both inside Russia and abroad. He even wrote a long pseudo-historical essay on Ukraine. Therefore, communicating information to a Russian autocrat that he does not like is an extraordinary challenge. And, obviously, no one in Russia dared to do so.
Regarding Naryshkin's persecution, the Russian expert changed his assessment. At first he thought it was a showy massacre, as if “a mafia leader humiliates one of his gang members so that others are obedient.” But now Soldatov believes that “at a certain point, Putin stopped listening and taking into account the opinion of his own intelligence.” He decided that he knew more and better about Ukraine than anyone else.
“Among all the people in the security apparatus, he obviously listens only to Defense Minister Shoigu and may also listen to Security Council Secretary Patrushev,” Soldatov said.
He also added that sending the Russian National Guard to Ukraine surprised him. After all, the main task of this service is to suppress protests in Russia.
“They were not prepared for anything more,” the expert told the German newspaper, adding that this may indicate Putin's assessments before the invasion. He may have hoped that there would be no armed resistance. And it is only necessary to disperse the “nationalist gangs” in Ukraine to win.
Now the war in Ukraine lasts almost four weeks. At the same time, Putin still seems convinced that the overall strategic plan has been drawn up correctly.
“The culprits are fighters of the National Guard special forces, incorrectly fighting, and people in the FSB have not prepared the pro-Russian underground, and Naryshkin gave him the wrong report. Something in this spirit, “Soldatov described the accusations in the Kremlin.
In his opinion, the palace coup in Moscow is still difficult to imagine. After all, “there is no other political force in the country except Putin himself.”
“We need to build an underground movement from scratch. And the Russian special services are not very clever in such things, “the expert explained.
