Vladimir Putin isn’t the sort of world leader that allows for much dissent. He’s a tyrant, after all, just a more subtle one than most, and things have to be fairly well FUBAR before anyone stands up to him.
According to new US intel reports, that’s precisely the situation today.
A member of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle has voiced disagreement directly to the Russian president in recent weeks over his handling of the war in Ukraine, according to information obtained by U.S. intelligence.
The criticism marks the clearest indication yet of turmoil within Russia’s leadership over the stewardship of a war that has gone disastrously wrong for Moscow, forcing Putin last month to order the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of troops in a desperate bid to reverse recent battlefield losses.
The significance of the situation was not lost on the White House.
The information was deemed significant enough that it was included in President Biden’s daily intelligence briefing and shared with other U.S. officials, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.
Putin’s latest belligerence has included a number of new nuclear threats, aimed not only at countries that would consider interfering in his invasion of Ukraine, but also toward Ukraine itself after his sham annexation of several Ukrainian regions.
