According to the White House and European officials, Vladimir Putin’s advisers had misled him. They were too afraid to tell him how badly the war in Ukraine is going and how destructive Western sanctions have been.
Ukraine forces have halted Russia’s assault on its southern neighbor on multiple fronts. They have regained territory while civilians are still struggling in besieged cities.
“We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military, which has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership,” Kate Bedingfield, White House communications director, told reporters during a press briefing.
“We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth,” she said.
“yes men”
She claimed that the US was now presenting this information to indicate that Russia had made a “strategic error.”
After the conclusion of the working day in Moscow, the Kremlin made no immediate reaction to the allegations. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Washington’s intention to make more of its intelligence publicly available echoes a strategy it has maintained since the start of the war. It might also complicate Putin’s calculations in this case, according to a second US official, who added, “It’s potentially useful. Does it sow dissension in the ranks? It could make Putin reconsider whom he can trust.”
One senior European diplomat told the U.S. assessment was in line with European thinking. “Putin thought things were going better than they were. That’s the problem with surrounding yourself with ‘yes men’ or only sitting with them at the end of a very long table,” the diplomat said.
“Denazify”
According to two European officials, Russian conscripts were told they were participating in military drills. But they had to sign a contract before the invasion that prolonged their duty.
“They were misled, badly trained, and then arrived to find old Ukrainian women who looked like their grandmothers yelling at them to go home,” one of the diplomats added.
The climate did not appear to be conducive to a Russian military revolution at this time. But the situation was “unpredictable”. The Western powers “would hope that unhappy people would speak up,” a senior European diplomat said.
According to military specialists, Russia has reframed its war goals in Ukraine in such a way that Putin may be able to claim a face-saving win despite a disastrous campaign in which his army has suffered humiliating reverses.
On Wednesday, Russian soldiers shelled the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, and Chernihiv, a besieged city in northern Ukraine. It happened a day after Russia promised to cut up military operations in both cities. The West condemned it as a ruse to regroup invaders suffering serious losses.
Russia claims to be conducting a “special operation” to disarm and “denazify” its southern neighbor. Moscow, according to Western countries, launched an unprovoked invasion.