Since the beginning of the open invasion of Ukraine, the tense relations between Vladimir Putin and the Russian special services have become very noticeable. In less than four weeks, the Russian autocrat has already begun harassing people from the security apparatus who were previously part of his entourage..

Forus writes about this with reference to Andrey Soldatov, an expert in the field of Russian intelligence.. He said that the war began with the fact that Putin publicly humiliated the head of foreign intelligence, Sergei Naryshkin.. A few weeks after that, it became known about punitive measures among the intelligence unit of the FSB. In particular, General Sergei Beseda and another intelligence 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 at all.. And in the Kremlin, it is the special services, especially the FSB, who are accused of this.. Since it was she who was responsible for espionage on the territory of Ukraine and did her job very poorly. Because the understanding of the real situation in the country was very poor.

Soldatov also explained that the big problem lies in Putin himself.. After all, he adheres to unshakable convictions on Ukraine, which he broadcasts both inside Russia and abroad.. He even wrote a long pseudo-historical essay about Ukraine. So giving a Russian autocrat information he doesn't like is an extreme challenge.. And, obviously, no one in Russia dared to do this..

Regarding the persecution of Naryshkin, the Russian expert changed his assessment. At first, he thought that it was a demonstrative massacre, as if " 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 himself 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 maybe even to Secretary of the Security Council Patrushev,” Soldatov said..

He also added that the dispatch of 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 else,” the expert told the German publication, adding that this could indicate Putin’s assessments before the invasion. He may have expected that there would be no armed resistance.. And you only need to disperse the "

Now the war in Ukraine lasts almost four weeks. However, Putin still seems to be convinced that the overall strategic plan was drawn up correctly..

“The culprits are the National Guard special forces, who are fighting incorrectly, and also the people in the FSB did not prepare the pro-Russian underground and Naryshkin gave him the wrong report. Something like that,” Soldatov described the accusations in the Kremlin.

In his opinion, a 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 dexterous in such things,” the expert explained..