Putin has started looking for extremes because of the failure in Ukraine – journalists

Putin began to look for extremes due to an unsuccessful military campaign in Ukraine. The FSB foreign intelligence unit was the first to suffer; its head, Sergey Beseda, and his deputy, Bolukh, were arrested.

This was reported by Medusa with reference to journalists Andrey Soldatov and Irina Borogan.

It is noted that Besieda and Bolukh were responsible for intelligence in Ukraine, and it was probably they who misled Putin about Ukraine's readiness to "welcome the liberators."

Bolukh was additionally responsible for the direction of misinformation.

The 5th Service (official name – Operational Information and International Relations Service) deals with the FSB's relations with foreign partners, including US agencies.

Within the service, there is the infamous Department of Operational Information (DOI), which performs the functions of the FSB's foreign intelligence.

"It was the 5th Service that was responsible for providing Vladimir Putin with information about political events in Ukraine on the eve of the invasion. And it seems that after two weeks of the war, Putin finally came to the realization that he was misled: the 5th Service provided him with the information he himself wanted to hear.

At present, our sources report that General Beseda and his deputy have been placed under house arrest. Among the reasons is the misuse of funds allocated for operations, as well as poor intelligence. And indeed: the intelligence of Putin's staff spy, as it turned out, is arranged very poorly," said the statement.

Note

Andrey Soldatov and Irina Borogan are journalists and writers, authors of several books about the Russian government and special services.

They have been studying the FSB for many years and have a large network of sources.