3.7.22
President Vladimir Putin has alienated some top Russian officials since the early stages of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian journalist Farida Rustamova reported. According to the journalist Ilya Lozovsky's English translation of Rustamova's Tuesday report, officials and members of parliament she spoke with said they were increasingly worried about how Putin was handling the war. Rustamova recently fled the country and previously worked for the BBC Russian Service — which has since been suspended by the London-based network — as well as Meduza and the RBC, an investigative outlet that experienced a mass resignation in 2016. "No one is rejoicing," a source described as "close to the Kremlin" told Rustamova, according to Lozovsky's translation. "Many understand that this is a mistake, but in the course of doing their duty they come up with explanations in order to somehow come to terms with it."
"Some officials aren't associating themselves with what's happening at all, viewing Putin's decision as a historical choice over which they have no influence, and the meaning of which no one will understand for a some time to come," Rustamova wrote. Another person granted anonymity said Kremlin officials were "carefully enunciating the word cluster****" when describing the invasion. The Russian reporter also outlined how Putin had been limiting information to a close circle of advisors. "Most likely, my sources say, only the narrowest circle had been informed: Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, and the leaders of the counterintelligence service," she wrote, according to Lozovsky's translation. A different person Rustamova described as "a good acquaintance of Putin's" said the Russian president's mood had gotten worse. "Here he is in a state of being offended and insulted," the source said. "It's paranoia that has reached the point of absurdity."
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