Demoralized Russian soldiers are sabotaging their own equipment — including accidentally downing their own planes — and top generals are lying to Russian President Vladimir Putin about …
Demoralized Russian soldiers are sabotaging their own equipment — including accidentally downing their own planes — and top generals are lying to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the success of his military campaign in Ukraine, the United Kingdom’s spy chief said Thursday. Jeremy Fleming, the head of Government Communication Headquarters, said during a speech in Australia that Putin had “massively misjudged” both the capabilities of Russian forces and the will of the Ukrainian people to fight for their homeland. “It’s clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people,” Fleming said. “He underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanize. He underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions regime, and he overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory.” “We’ve seen Russian soldiers, short of weapons and morale, refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft,” Fleming added. The spymaster went on to claim that Putin’s inner circle fears speaking truth to the Russian leader, though the “extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.” Fleming added that the Russian command and control structure is in chaos, while the invasion of Ukraine had descended into Putin’s “personal war.” The UK official’s observations dovetail with those of the US and other Western nations that say Putin is surrounded by a battery of “yes men” who are feeding him false information about how poorly Russian troops are performing, as well as the extent to which sanctions are harming the Russian economy.
