Vladimir Putin seems to blame the domestic secret service FSB for the slow advances in Ukraine. The Russian investigative journalist, Kremlin expert and military expert Andrei Soldatov wrote on Twitter that Putin "criticized" foreign officers of the FSB during a recent security meeting. The head Sergei Beseda and his deputy are now under house arrest. Soldatov is considered knowledgeable and credible in intelligence circles.
Putin himself served 15 years as a foreign intelligence officer for the KGB (Committee for State Security), including six years in the city of Dresden, East Germany. In 1990 he retired from active KGB service with the rank of lieutenant colonel and returned to Russia to become prorector of Leningrad State University with responsibility for the institution’s external relations.
The Russian president is said to mainly blame his intelligence agencies for the slow pace of the war in Ukraine, which has seen Russian casualties continue to mount. Embezzlement of funds allocated for subversive and undercover work in Ukraine, as well as false information, is said to be the reason for the arrests. The Kremlin's strategy has been raising questions among Western military experts for days. The Ukrainian secret service had previously reported that eight generals at the front had been recalled and replaced.
Also arrested is Anatoly Bolyukh, Beseda's deputy. This is according to Soldatov, who said Putin is "truly unhappy" with the agency, which he ran before becoming president. Meanwhile Ukrainian civilians have rallied behind their government and the surprisingly inspirational leadership of Volodymyr Zelensky, staging protests in areas that Russians have occupied, while sabotaging their tanks and capturing vehicles.
Multiple reports said Vladimir Putin was raging at the FSB for assuring him that his soldiers would meet little resistance when invading Ukraine, turning on his intelligence service and blaming them for the blunder. Soldatov previously told The Times that FSB agents are usually brought into the service as legacy hires based on their parents or grandparents being agents and are removed from mainstream schools to be educated in-house.
Source: https://www.n-tv.de/politik/21-42-Kiew-Buergermeister-von-Melitopol-entfuehrt--article23143824.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10603045/Putin-places-head-FSBs-foreign-intelligence-branch-house-arrest.html