Putin tightens inner circle after Kursk defeat: Power shifts in Kremlin
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, after the defeat of his army at Kursk caused by the Armed Forces' invasion, continues to narrow the "inner circle" of people influencing his decisions and places them in key positions as "personal guards", writes Bloomberg.
According to three agency interlocutors, Putin is becoming increasingly isolated, and access to him is becoming more difficult. The publication cites the example of the new Deputy Defence Minister and the president's niece, Anna Tsivileva, who was promoted to the position of state secretary last week.
Meetings with Putin "face to face"
According to sources cited by Bloomberg, she has enough influence to conduct face-to-face working meetings with Putin and is close enough to attend informal events and receptions with him.
The 52-year-old Tsivileva now has direct access to Putin, which even her boss at the Ministry of Defence, Andrei Belousov, did not have.
In conducting the military conflict, Putin currently relies on old, trusted advisers. He instructed his former personal bodyguard, State Council Secretary Alexei Dyumin, to be his "eyes and ears" in monitoring operations aimed at "expelling the Ukrainian military from Kursk Oblast."
Putin loses trust. The effect of the defeat at Kursk
After the debacle at Kursk, Putin no longer trusts the General Staff. In a crisis situation, he will rely solely on those who are personally loyal to him," claims a source in the Russian Ministry of Defence, with whom the "Ważne Istorje" portal spoke.
Following the former Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, trust was also lost in the former Security Council Chief Nikolai Patrushev. His old guard at the FSB has already started to be removed. Most likely, a key general from Patrushev's team and the entire FSB - the head of the Constitutional Order Protection Service, Alexei Sedov, responsible for prosecuting Putin's political opponents - will leave his position soon.
Patrushev was transferred to the position of presidential advisor on the shipbuilding industry.
source: Bloomberg / The Moscow Times / Ważne Istorie
