FSB Whistleblower: “This war will be a total failure”

The Times today reports that spies in Russia’s infamous security apparatus were kept in the dark about President Putin’s plan to invade Ukraine, according to a whistleblower who described the war as a “total failure” that could be compared only to the collapse of Nazi Germany.

A report thought to be by an analyst in the FSB, the successor agency to the KGB, said that the Russian dead could already number 10,000. The Russian defence ministry has acknowledged the deaths of only 498 of its soldiers in Ukraine.

The report said the FSB was being blamed for the failure of the invasion but had been given no warning of it and was unprepared to deal with the effects of crippling sanctions.

In the meantime, as at 0700 hrs GMT – there are reports surfacing that Ukrainian forces have re-taken Chuhuiv – and whilst probably an over-estimate – Ukraine claims the Russian military has lost over 11,000 troops, dozens of 46 planes and helicopters along with armoured vehicles and 290 tanks

The whistleblower added that no one in the government knew the true figure of the dead because – “we have lost contact with major divisions”.

FSB officers had been ordered to assess the effects of western sanctions, they said, but were told that it was a hypothetical box-ticking exercise. “You have to write the analysis in a way that makes Russia the victor . . . otherwise you get questioned for not doing good work,” they wrote. “Suddenly it happens and everything comes down to your completely groundless analysis.”

The FSB whistleblower went on to say that – “By and large, though, Russia has no way out. There are no options for a possible victory, only defeat.”

In looking at Putin’s strategy, experienced commentators such as retired senior military officers mostly agree that the war is unwinnable. Right now approximately 70 per cent of Russia’s mobile military units are in full operation. Indeed, even if Putin was able to declare victory by taking Kyiv, other major cities and ports, it’s an unmistakable fact that Ukraine is the largest country in continental Europe with the exception of Russia itself. Attempting to control well over 40 million hostile citizens in a landmass that’s a fifth larger than France would take unbelievable resources that Russia simply does not have.

It is estimated that not including supply and logistics, well over 500,000 troops would be needed to control Ukraine.

The 2,000-word document was published by Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian human rights activist who runs the anti-corruption website Gulagu.net.

Christo Grozev, an expert on the Russian security services, said he had shown the letter to two FSB officers, both of whom had had “no doubt it was written by a colleague”.

One word of warning from TruePublica though – the level of misinformation thrown about by both sides whilst engaging in a major conflict is standard procedure – and all readers should take a view as to whether the whistleblower or The Times source is indeed genuine.

 

 

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