Among the immediate surroundings Vladimir Putin there was one person who in recent weeks has expressed disagreement directly with the Russian president about his conduct of the war in Ukraine. This information is available to US intelligence.
Speaking of which in shape Washington Post.
A man in Putin’s entourage personally expressed his dissatisfaction with him – US intelligence
This criticism is the clearest indication of the unrest in the Russian leadership over the course of the war, which went disastrously not so much for Moscow, leading Putin last month to order the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of troops in a desperate attempt to recover recent losses. on the battlefield.
Information about dissidents in Putin’s circle was considered important enough to be included in the daily intelligence report to President Biden and shared with other US officials on condition that they remain anonymous to discuss confidential information.
According to one of the intelligence people, the dissatisfaction expressed by a member of Putin’s inner circle was that of having highlighted the errors of the military campaign.
The Washington Post, dissatisfied with Putin’s policies, has not been identified, although his name is known to have been included in US intelligence reports.
There are people who are dissatisfied, but they don’t want to criticize the president directly
The new intelligence data, combined with comments from Russian officials, highlights the divisions at Putin’s top, where officials have long been unwilling to deliver bad news to the autocratic Russian leader, who is seen as more isolated than ever. in his 22 years he rules.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council declined to comment on intelligence.
As the war approaches its eighth month and a Russian victory remains ill-defined, the undisputed loyalty that Putin enjoys could be flawed, intelligence officials said, but warned there was no sign that the leader Russian was about to be eliminated.
“Since the beginning of the occupation, we have seen growing anxiety from Putin’s inner circle. Our estimates suggest that they are particularly caused by the recent Russian losses, mismanagement and significant military shortages,” intelligence said. .
A second senior Western official said the internal tension “is in line with the way the campaign for the Russians went and the atmosphere in the Kremlin. There are many people who are convinced that this is not good or the right line. of conduct “.
The Kremlin calls the differences “business arguments”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged that there were divisions and debates among Russian leaders as Putin faced important decisions such as mobilization.
“There are business arguments: about the economy, about conducting a military operation. There are disputes over the education system. This is part of the normal work process and this is not a sign of division,” Peskov told the Washington Post. .
Peskov also said that the US intelligence report that a person from Putin’s inner circle is challenging the Russian leader is “an absolute lie”.
In another conversation this week, a senior Russian official said he had not heard of any direct challenge to Putin from his inner circle.
“There are protests from the heads of parliamentary committees about how the president and the army are waging the war and why the army is not adequately supplied, why the campaign is not going as it should,” the official said. .
Senior security officials in Europe said they were unaware of anyone who dared to challenge Putin directly during the events in Ukraine and added that they had not seen US intelligence reports on Putin’s criticism.
Despite this, some of these officials said the cracks were becoming more evident at many levels in the Russian system, citing explosions and finger-pointing by the Russian military, security services, and regional governments now forcing men into old age. military to serve.
Putin is mainly criticized “behind his back”
A senior European security official described the rise in “criticism of Putin behind him”, including from the Kremlin establishment. “They think he’s stubborn,” the official said, and “obsessed with Ukraine” – “an obsession they don’t necessarily share.”
Two Russian businessmen who are in contact with political officials echoed the sentiment and said the next few weeks could be pivotal in determining Putin’s future and what decisions he will make on the war.
If the Russian military does not stop its losses, there will be an internal struggle, said one of the men, a member of the Russian business elite. “This is a turning point.”
The mobilization of forces has proved very unpopular in Russia and could indicate that Putin is under pressure to take desperate measures.
In the spring of this year, when Putin’s plan for an early invasion and occupation of Ukraine clearly failed, US intelligence analysts estimated that he should have announced a massive mobilization – in the amount of hundreds of thousands of troops. additional – if he had hoped to achieve his goals, which Putin believed at the time he could still do, according to a senior US official who knew the matter.
Putin’s decision to call what Russian officials say are 300,000 additional soldiers is considered one of the most destabilizing and politically risky moves of his career and could lead to regime instability, a third European security official said.
Others, however, have argued that, despite the massive exodus of military-age men from Russia, Putin has crossed an important threshold without posing any major internal challenge to his government. Even regional officials, enraged by the mobilization, mostly accomplish it by supplying tens of thousands of new recruits.
“Everyone is looking for signs of a collapse in Russia, and there is internal tensions,” said a senior Baltic official. “But Russia is now at war and the war continues. We have seen nothing to indicate otherwise.”
Recall that in Russia, due to Ukraine’s refusal to negotiate with the incumbent President Vladimir Putin started looking for a replacement. It depends on how successful the negotiations with the Ukrainian side can take place.
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