Putin purges more than 100 FSB agents

[Rogue Valley]

Putin purges more than 100 FSB agents

4.11.22
Russia's invasion of Ukraine appears not to be going according to plan, and President Vladimir Putin seems intent on blaming his old colleagues at the Federal Security Bureau (FSB) – the intelligence agency successor to the KGB – for the quagmire. Putin reportedly purged more than 100 agents from the FSB, and his government sent the head of the department responsible for Ukraine to prison. About 150 FSB officers have been dismissed, The Times of London reported Monday. The ousted agents belonged to the Fifth Service, a division that Putin – then director of the FSB – set up in 1998 in order to carry out operations in the countries of the former Soviet Union, aiming to keep those countries in Russia's orbit. Authorities placed Sergei Beseda, the former head of the Fifth Service, under house arrest last month. He has since been moved to the FSB-run Lefortovo prison in Moscow. This move sent a "very strong message" to other elites in Russia, Andrei Soldatov, an expert with the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), told The Times.

Soldatov suggested that Russian authorities may suspect Beseda of having passed information to the CIA.Soldatov said the Fifth Service represents "the most sensitive department of the FSB department, which is in charge of espionage in Ukraine. And now it looks like Vladimir Putin finally understood that the intelligence he was given before the invasion was not extremely accurate. And he has started looking around trying to find someone to blame."While Russian troops fight to take ground in Ukraine, Moscow is also fighting an intelligence war. The U.S. FBI announced last week that it had disrupted a Russian military hacking scheme to set up a "botnet" on victim devices in the U.S. and elsewhere. Late last month, Ukrainian intelligence released a purported list of more than 600 Russian spies.

Real and wannabe dictators always need scapegoats.

 

[ataraxia]

It's very possible this whole Ukraine thing is like the initial iceberg tear on the side of Putin's Titanic regime. We may not be seeing it, but it could be the beginning of the end for him over the next few years.

This guy just ended up in jail recently for daring to say it openly:

Prominent Putin critic arrested in Moscow

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Putin critic and anti-war activist, was arrested in Moscow on Monday on charges of disobeying police orders.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[EnigmaO01]

If he is removing that many people it would seem he has many new enemies that could work together to eliminate him. And the skill set is there with FSB (formerly KGB) agents. The man just keeps getting dumber and dumber.

 

[ataraxia]

If he is removing that many people it would seem he has many new enemies that could work together to eliminate him. And the skill set is there with FSB (formerly KGB) agents. The man just keeps getting dumber and dumber.

That’s not to mention the oligarchs who are losing their yachts in Europe because of this Ukraine invasion. It’s hard to know for sure, but it’s possible they’re not too happy with Putin about this. I’m not quite sure how much power they have with him, but they could be leveraging whatever power they do have into quietly undermining him.

 

[bluesmoke]

Their replacements will know better. Just as do Trump's.

 

[EnigmaO01]

That’s not to mention the oligarchs who are losing their yachts in Europe because of this Ukraine invasion. It’s hard to know for sure, but it’s possible they’re not too happy with Putin about this. I’m not quite sure how much power they have with him, but they could be leveraging whatever power they do have into quietly undermining him.

As far as the oligarchs, I would hope that is true, but a Russian -- that now lives in Canada -- told us on another forum that Putin tells the Oligarchs what to do and how high to jump, and they have no power over him unless they want to disappear.

 

[EnigmaO01]

Their replacements will know better. Just as do Trump's.

At some point he could run out of will replacements especially if the the rats feel the ship sinking.

 

[Roadvirus]

Putin purges more than 100 FSB agents

Real and wannabe dictators always need scapegoats.

This will just cause FSB guys to quit. They won't want to risk going to jail by making Putzin upset. That means the quality of the FSB will drop sharply, which will be good for the rest of the world.

 

[RAMOSS]

Putin purges more than 100 FSB agents

Real and wannabe dictators always need scapegoats.

In addition, the FSB is the organization most likley to have a palace coup.

 

[maxparrish]

Putin purges more than 100 FSB agents

Real and wannabe dictators always need scapegoats.

Unfortunately, this could mean many things not favorable to Ukraine or western nations. Among them:

1) The purge might have something to do with more than bad intelligence, it may be that Putin is convinced that Ukraine's claims of being forewarned by the FSB on Putin's assassination plans of Zelensky and others might be true, and Putin is cleaning house looking for more loyal fascistic personalities to replace old styled professionals who might have opposed this war.

2) Stalin's purges of his NKVD did little, in the longer term, to harm Soviet efforts. One butcher in the summer of 1938, Yezhov was replaced by another, Beria. Yezhov and his associates were arrested and executed, while Beria's associates took over.

3) Sometimes scapegoats need eliminated because they know the truth. Stalin was warned repeatedly by some individuals regarding Hitler's intentions. He ignored them. After the invasion of Russia Stalin had those folks arrested and executed...to hide his own mistakes.

Let us hope that this backfires on Putin, but if history is any guide, it probably won't.

 

[Rogue Valley]

I doubt Beseda was being run by the CIA.

But someone in Moscow has to take the fall for the accuracy of US intelligence.