Putin needs "victory for himself" - "mass cleansing" by presidents probably in the secret service
Created: 04/12/2022, 10:48 p.m
By: Felix Durach
Vladimir Putin is probably not satisfied with the course of the Ukraine war.
The autocrat's anger at the lack of success now apparently hit his own secret service.
Moscow - Vladimir Putin is still confident of victory in view of the progress of the Russian troops in the Ukraine war.
In a speech on Russian state television on Tuesday, the 69-year-old reaffirmed the self-proclaimed goals of the Russian military: Ukraine forms a "trinity" with Russia and Belarus and must therefore be liberated from the National Socialists.
The West, on the other hand, is waging an economic blitzkrieg against Russia, which has failed.
So the propaganda machine in the Kremlin continues to run and spreads its own image of the war in Ukraine, which in Russia is not even allowed to be called by its name.
Ukraine war: Putin finally wants military success - Russian major offensive expected
However, experts see the Russian ruler under increased pressure.
At the beginning of the war, Russian troops wanted to reach and capture the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv within a few days.
A capture or assassination of President Volodymyr Zelensky would then end the war in Russia's favour.
At least that's the theory.
In reality, Putin's troops had to abandon their aspirations towards the Ukrainian capital and regroup and strengthen in the east of the country.
From there, a major Russian offensive is expected to start in the coming days.
Putin needs big victories in the Ukraine war to present to his supporters.
Victory Day on May 9th is always in focus.
On this day, Russians celebrate the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany, and on this day Putin also wants to celebrate a victory over Ukraine.
Ukraine war: Putin's anger probably hits his own secret service - 150 agents fired
A report by the research network Bellingcat shows that the war has not gone according to Putin's ideas so far, according to which the Russian autocrat's anger has now been directed towards his own secret service.
In the FSB, the president is said to have carried out a real “mass cleansing”.
150 agents are said to have been dismissed from the secret service for omissions related to the Ukraine war, and some of them were even arrested.
The released and arrested agents are said to have been familiar with the espionage and control of the former Soviet Union countries - including Ukraine.
A few weeks ago it was reported from the Kremlin that Putin had placed the head of the FSB, Sergei Beseda, under house arrest.
As Russian journalist and Kremlin critic Andrei Soldierov reported on Twitter, Beseda is said to have been taken to Lefortovo prison on the outskirts of the capital Moscow.
Even when he was arrested, there was speculation that Beseda had provided Putin with false information about the situation in Ukraine before the Russian invasion.
Speaking to the British Times
, soldatov described the move to Lefortovo
as a "very strong sign" of how Putin will punish misconduct in the context of the Ukraine war in the future.
However, due to the current war situation, the reports cannot be independently verified.
Vladimir Putin has reportedly carried out a real "mass purge" of Russian intelligence.
© Evgeny Biyatov/dpa
Ukraine war: Macron sure - Putin has "decided that he will not stop"
French President Emmanuel Macron agrees that Putin will not let himself be dissuaded from his goal despite the setbacks in the Ukraine war.
President Vladimir Putin has "decided that he will not stop," Macron told the weekly
Le Point
.
"He needs a military victory for himself," even though he understood that Ukraine would not submit.
Macron is concerned about the impending major offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Putin wants “a victory and a glorious military parade on May 9th”.
For these reasons, "I have very little faith in our collective ability to bring (Putin) to a negotiating table in the short term," Macron said.
What Putin's blind pursuit of military success can lead to can also be seen in the ongoing fighting for the port city of Mariupol, where more than 20,000 people have lost their lives, according to the Ukrainian regional administration.
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