Decision on the invasion of Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin took in a narrow circle of “hawks”, including the Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu, the head of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov and Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev. This is reported by Bloomberg with reference to awareness source.
According to them, in a few weeks preceding the invasion, the circle of communication Putin narrowed even more, but with Shoigu, Gerasimov and Patrushev, he was closely in close contact.
Bloomberg interviewed several high-ranking officials in the Kremlin, which are increasingly convinced that the continuation of the war will lead to long-term isolation of Russia, it will damage the Russian economy, will threaten the country’s safety and weaken its global influence. According to these officials, the invasion of Ukraine is a catastrophic mistake, which will discard Russia for years ago. At the same time, officials do not believe that Putin will change the political course. According to them, the president is isolated in a narrow circle of advisers and rejects any attempts to prevent him about the consequences of continuing aggression in Ukraine.
According to sources, high-ranking officials tried to explain to the President that the economic consequences of sanctions will be destructive, since both achievements of Putin’s Board will be reduced: two decades of economic growth and a high standard of living. However, Putin said in response that the West did not leave him another choice, except for war. The President of the Russian Federation is confident that the country’s economy is already adapted to the sanctions and “Economic Blitzkrieg” of the West failed.
According to the interlocutors Bloomberg, Putin still believes that the Russians are supported and ready for the years of deprivation for the sake of national greatness, which president sees him. Some sources of the agency share the concerns of American intelligence, which Putin, facing the failure in a military operation, which he considers his historical mission, can resort to the use of nuclear weapons.
According to Bloomberg, in general, the support of the war among Russian elites is still high. Many officials are publicly and privately divided by the position of the Kremlin, according to which the open conflict with the West is inevitable. They believe that Russia adapts to large-scale sanctions.
Several major businessmen carefully spoke out against the war, preferring to criticize the authorities. General formulations. Many of them are frightened with reinforcing repressions, and therefore they are afraid to break the connection with the Kremlin. According to Bloomberg, only one high-ranking official was solved on this – Anatoly Chubais. At the end of March, he left the post of special representative of the President of the Russian Federation on sustainable development issues and left the country.
According to Bloomberg, high-ranking Russian officials are shocked by which speed and scope are imposed sanctions against the Russian Federation. They did not expect that half of the reserves of the Central Bank will be blocked, and foreign companies practically overnight will refuse the Russian market, which invested for dozens of years.