Vladimir Putin has isolated himself and lost contact with the outside world and the Kremlin.
The frustration is growing with the Russian president, according to US intelligence. This writes NBC News.
The United States should have solid information that Putin is frustrated and directs unusual outbursts of anger at people in his inner circle.
This is unusual, according to one former and two current US officials in the intelligence. The reason is that Putin, a former intelligence officer, usually keeps his emotions in check.
“He is no longer the same cold-blooded dictator he was in 2008,” said former CIA director John Brennan.
PROFESSOR: Sven G. Holtsmark, Department of Defense Studies. Photo: The Norwegian Defense College.
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– The regime is losing control
– American intelligence and what we see from the Russian side point in the same direction – towards a Russian regime that is starting to lose control and is starting to get desperate, says Sven G. Holtsmark, Russia expert and history professor at the Department of Defense Studies, Norwegian Defense College.
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He has been following Putin’s speeches closely lately.
– We are past the point where this rhetoric makes any sense. It points in the direction that things have started to get out of control, says Holtsmark.
He makes a small reservation: The information that Vladimir Putin is also beginning to lose control over his own temperament comes from US intelligence. When the parties to a conflict speak out in public, they always want to achieve something. Yet in the Western world, telling false lies involves a certain amount of risk. There is also one more thing that argues that American intelligence is correct: What they shared intelligence before the Russian invasion of Ukraine turned out to be correct.
– Then they obviously gave out true information, says Holtsmark.
Psychologists: Putin’s personality disorder
Maybe it’s right this time too.
Would deter
– Before the attack, the thinking was that it would be more difficult for Putin to attack if the United States had already announced that the attack would come. It’s a bit like telling a thief that I know you’ll break into my house tomorrow at 12. Then you reduce the chance that he actually does, says Holtsmark.
Several experts have stated that Russia’s president probably did not expect to face such strong opposition in Ukraine. He is now also being pressured at home, with one million signing the “Stop the war in Ukraine” signature campaign and powerful oligarchs expressing dissatisfaction.
– The Russian bluff
Putin’s only option could be to double the violence, US officials told NBC News.
– Not sane
The Americans tried to deter Putin from attacking Ukraine. They did not succeed.
– What they want to achieve this time, is harder to say. Maybe they want to reach out with a message to the Russian people – that Putin is no longer sane, says Holtsmark.
In any case, there are other factors that point in the same direction – that it has begun to unravel in the Kremlin, he believes.
– Have we seen a rational person talk in the last five or six days? asks Professor Holtsmark, before answering himself:
From the day he recognized the so-called People’s Republics (Donetsk and Luhansk, editor’s note) it only gets worse. Yesterday he held a tirade in front of his security council where he stated that Ukrainians are not only Nazis, they are also drug addicts. Today, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman also completely resigned. What we can state as a fact is that we have a Russian rhetoric and a Russian communication that seems to have gone completely out of control. Is there any target group for all this, Holtsmark asks.
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