The country’s richest cities and elites are protected by Russia from the consequences of the war, reports the British intelligence service

“As Russia continues to suffer extremely heavy losses, the effects vary greatly across regions of Russia,” the report said.

“Moscow and St. Petersburg, the richest cities proportional to the number of inhabitants, are relatively unaffected. This tendency is particularly pronounced in relation to the families of the country’s elite.”

In many eastern regions, the number of victims in proportion to the population is 30-40 times higher than in Moscow.

“In some places, minorities suffer the most. In Astrakhan, 75% of the victims are among the Kazakh and Tatar minority communities.”

“As the Russian Ministry of Defense seeks to address the problem of a shortage of combat personnel, the isolation of the wealthiest and most influential elements of Russian society [no kara sekām]is likely to continue to be one of the most important issues,” the report said.

US intelligence agencies believe that Russia currently lacks the ammunition and troops to seize large swathes of territory in Ukraine this year, so it may switch to strategic deterrence and defense of existing positions, thus prolonging the war.