WASHINGTON (Fwrd Axis) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by advisers about his military’s performance in Ukraine, according to U.S. intelligence officials.
The information, which was recently declassified, says Putin and senior Russian military officials are having tension despite the Russian leader being aware of the situation on information coming to him.
The Associated Press first reported the news.
At Wednesday’s press briefing, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield declined to say if President Joe Biden approved the release of the intelligence. The administration is hopeful that Putin will now reconsider his options in Ukraine with the intelligence made public.
“It’s his war. He chose it,” Defense Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday. “So, the fact that he may not have all the context, that he may not fully understand the degree to which his forces are failing in Ukraine — that’s a little discomforting, to be honest with you.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken didn’t directly confirm the story while he was in Algeria Wednesday but hinted at it.
“One of the Achilles’ heels of autocracies is that you don’t have people in those systems who speak truth to power or lack the ability to speak truth to power. And I think that is something that we’re seeing in Russia,” he said.
Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday morning and said an additional $500 million in direct aid for Ukraine but declined to mention any no-fly zone that Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for since the war began.
Prior to Biden sending Zelenskyy an additional $500 million, the administration has already sent Ukraine about $2 billion in humanitarian and security assistance.
On Tuesday, the White House expressed skepticism about Russia’s announcement that it would scale back operations near Kyiv. However, when asked, Biden also said he did not take Moscow’s word for it.
“We’ll see,” Biden said.
