“Only Stalin would have dared”: Putin is said to be rebuilding the secret services – and getting the boss out of prison again

Created: 05/13/2022, 11:31 am

By: Franziska Schwarz

Photo published on May 11: Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi.

© Kremlin Pool/Imago

According to a report, Vladimir Putin disempowered his domestic secret service during the Ukraine war.

His boss first goes to jail - and then gets released again.

Moscow - In addition to the military events, the circumstances in the "shadow war" are apparently also changing.

This is what a report from May 9 called the secret service activities in the escalated Ukraine conflict.

The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) writes on its website that Vladimir Putin has redistributed responsibilities in the secret service - which means a "marked shift".

The CEPA is an American think tank founded in 2006 with a focus on relations with Eastern Europe.

The FSB is Russia's domestic intelligence agency, and the GRU is Russia's military intelligence agency.

According to Putin, leadership of the Ukraine war should now be transferred from the FSB to the GRU.

GRU boss is currently Vladimir Alexeyev.

Putin's secret services in the Ukraine war: FSB boss "disgraced".

So, from Putin's point of view, has the FSB failed?

The Russian-language news portal

reported at the end of March that the then FSB head Sergei Beseda had been placed under house arrest in a prison.

Beseda is also mentioned in CEPA's current report: He "fell out of favor" in Moscow and became the victim of a "bucking game".

Beseda's department has been accused of giving Putin bad advice and thus obstructing what was originally hoped to be a successful military offensive in Ukraine.

Moreover, large sums of money “disappeared” in the process, writes CEPA.

In the meantime, however, Beseda is going back to his office in Moscow, CEPA claims to have learned from his Russian sources and judges: “Very strange.

Throwing a general into prison and then putting him back in his position with dignity, only Stalin would have dared to do such a maneuver.”

Ukraine war: Putin apparently loses confidence in his secret services

However, the report sees a "certain logic" in Mesada's rehabilitation.

Putin is keen to convince the increasingly skeptical Russian elite that everything is going according to plan with his “special military operation” in Ukraine.

But that is not proof of Putin's trust in the FSB.

And what about the new secret service in charge of the Ukraine war?

According to the report, Alexeyev was given his GRU post in 2011. According to CEPA, Britain and the EU suspect him of having led the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal in 2018.

There are allegations that he wanted to manipulate the 2016 US election in cyberspace.

on Thursday (May 12)

in the “Opinion” section.

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