As Ukrainian troops continue to make gains against the Russian military, whispered grievances have circulated in the Kremlin over the war and attempts not to celebrate its birthday, which falls on Friday.
“It soon became clear that we shouldn’t have any celebrations right now – it’s not the right time,” a source close to the Kremlin told Meduza. “Governors are even thinking about cutting spending this year” [winter] holiday celebrations; no one has extra money lying around.”
It is “a sensible idea” not to celebrate Putin’s birthday everywhere in Russia, a government source told Meduza. Although many close to Putin fear him, they have lost their respect for him, another source said.
“People are terrified around him,” a source close to the Russian government told the outlet. “But it’s fear without respect.”
In some cases, Putin himself has begun to receive some grim criticism from his inner circle over the direction he has taken the war.
Russians terrified of Putin’s bunker mentality as he turns 70 with his finger on the nuclear button
“Every 48 hours there is another container fire – nobody really understands what is going on,” a source close to the Kremlin told Meduza. “The people responsible for actually executing decisions don’t hear about it until the last minute.”
A member of Putin’s inner circle expressed his disapproval of the way the war is being waged directly on Putin, according to intelligence provided to President Joe Biden in recent weeks, The Washington Post reported.
Ramzan Kadyrov, a key Putin ally and leader of Chechnya, as well as Evgeniy Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group, have also publicly denounced Putin’s war plans.
The mounting disorder in Moscow comes after a series of blows in Ukraine that have sent the Russian military out of control. In the past month alone, Ukrainians have launched a counter-offensive against Russian forces and have even been able to reclaim territory that Russia has illegally annexed in an attempt to claim it as Russian. The Kremlin even admitted this week that while it tried to annex four regions in Ukraine and claim them as Russian, Moscow isn’t sure where the regions’ borders are.
The stumbling blocks have pushed Putin into a corner where he has failed to achieve his main goals, even though the war has been dragging on for more than seven months. And while he has begun a partial mobilization to try and replace the lost on the battlefield, he has alienated anti-war Russians, leading to a mass exodus from the country, and has even failed to adequately recruit conscripts. to prepare for the conflict.
“He doesn’t know how to lose,” a source told Putin’s Meduza. “And above all, he doesn’t know how to admit he’s losing.”
Putin has also stopped relying on his advisers to gauge the prudence of his plans, a source said.
“He would spell out scenarios that he thought were likely and ask, ‘What if we do this? What will be the consequences? And what if we do it this way? Then what?'” the source said. “But that has stopped.”
Sense of anxiety about the course of the war has increased among Russian officials in recent days. The head of the defense committee of the lower house of parliament, Andrei Kartapolov, publicly lashed out at Putin this week, warning him that he and the Kremlin should stop applauding Ukraine’s losses as if Russia is winning, and must stop covering up Russian defeats in Ukraine.
“People know it. Our people are not stupid,” Kartapolov said. “Stop lying.”
Russian power struggle peaks with calls for suicide and execution
Since February, Russia has lost 61,680 troops in the war, according to a general staff count of the Armed Forces of Ukraine released Friday.
Biden himself has begun to openly judge what it would be like if Putin lost power in Russia, as the Russian president has been threatening nuclear sabers for weeks now.
It is the “first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis that we have the threat of a nuclear weapon if things actually continue on their path,” Biden said on Thursday. “We are trying to figure out, what is Putin’s offshoot… Where is he in a position of not only losing face but also significant power within Russia?”
His comments come just a week after Vadym Skibitsky, the deputy chief of Ukraine’s intelligence, warned that the risk of Russia using a tactical nuclear weapon was “very high”.
The United States has seen no reason to change its nuclear stance and has seen no indications from Russia that Moscow is preparing to use nuclear weapons in the near future, the State Department clarified on Friday.
“The president’s comments… reinforce how seriously the government takes these threats,” said Vedant Patel, the chief deputy spokesman for the United States Department of State. “This kind of irresponsible rhetoric is not something that comes from a leader of an armed nuclear state.”
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