Putin reportedly declares war against his own FSB
Multiple major news outlets around the world, including a major British newspaper, are reporting that Vladimir Putin is now placing some high ranking Russian intel officials under house arrest. Never thought we’d see the day where Putin has turned against his own FSB. After all, the FSB is basically just a new coat of paint on the old Soviet KGB, and Putin came from the KGB.
If the reporting is true, Putin is giving his own top spies motivation to get rid of him before he can get rid of them. It’s difficult to think of a dumber move.
And yet, given the real time intel that the governments of the U.S. and Ukraine keep getting from deep within the Kremlin, it stands to reason that the FSB is leaking Russian intel in order to sabotage Putin. So Putin does have good reason to be paranoid about the FSB. And yet he can’t crack down on his spies without putting himself at further risk of being taken down from within. It’s yet another example of how you tend to have nothing but bad options to choose from when you’re losing this badly.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report