The secret services in Washington and London assume that Russian President Putin is not properly informed about the course of the war. His advisors are afraid to tell him the truth.
According to estimates by the US government and the British secret service, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not received an honest description of the situation in the Ukraine war from his advisers. White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said in Washington, citing intelligence information, “We believe he is misinformed by his advisers about how poorly the Russian military is acting and how the sanctions are crippling the Russian economy.” Putin’s senior advisers are “too afraid to tell him the truth.”
Bedingfield further said that according to intelligence information, Putin felt deceived by the Russian military, causing ongoing tensions between the Russian president and his military leadership. Bedingfield was not more specific. When asked why the US government is disclosing this information, she said it is to help build the bigger picture and understanding that attacking Ukraine is a major strategic mistake by Russia.
“The situation was massively misjudged”
“We believe that Putin’s advisors are afraid to tell him the truth,” said Jeremy Fleming, head of the British intelligence and security service Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). “There is evidence that Russian soldiers’ morale is low and their equipment is poor,” Fleming said. Russian soldiers disobeyed orders in Ukraine, sabotaged their own equipment and accidentally shot down one of their own planes. “Putin misjudged the situation massively,” Fleming said in a speech in Canberra, Australia, at the Australian National University.
US Department of Defense: “Disturbing”
US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said it was a cause for concern if Putin was misinformed or uninformed about what was happening in Ukraine. “It’s his military. It’s his war. He chose it.” The fact that the Russian President may not be fully aware of all the connections and may not fully understand the extent to which his forces are failing in Ukraine is troubling.
On the sidelines of a visit to Algeria, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “One of the Achilles’ heels of autocracies is that in these systems there are no people who speak the truth to the powerful or have the opportunity to speak the truth to the powerful. And I think that’s what we’re seeing in Russia.”
