Putin 'purges' 150 FSB agents in response to Russia's botched war with Ukraine

[Nevilledog]

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Nicholas Grossman
@NGrossman81
Big Russian intelligence purge in the FSB's Fifth Service (which focuses on former Soviet republics, including Ukraine)
Hard to know from the outside how much is scapegoating, paranoia, or removing people who either made bad assessments or held back info.

thetimes.co.uk
Putin ‘purges’ 150 FSB agents in response to Russia’s botched war with Ukraine
A “Stalinist” mass purge of Russian secret intelligence is under way after more than 100 agents were removed from their jobs and the head of the department resp
6:46 PM · Apr 11, 2022

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/putin-purges-150-fsb-agents-in-response-to-russias-botched-war-with-ukraine-lf9k6tn6g


A “Stalinist” mass purge of Russian secret intelligence is under way after more than 100 agents were removed from their jobs and the head of the department responsible for Ukraine was sent to prison.

In a sign of President Putin’s fury over the failures of the invasion, about 150 Federal Security Bureau (FSB) officers have been dismissed, including some who have been arrested.

All of those ousted were employees of the Fifth Service, a division set up in 1998, when Putin was director of the FSB to carry out operations in the countries of the former Soviet Union with the aim of keeping them within Russia’s orbit.

The service’s former chief, Sergei Beseda, 68, has been sent to Lefortovo prison in Moscow after he was placed under house arrest last month. The prison was used by the NKVD, the KGB’s predecessor, for interrogation and torture during Stalin’s Great Purge of the 1930s.

*snip*

[Phoenix61]

1. Well that should improve morale.😂😂😂😂

[Martin68]

6. Exactly. The CIA (and all intelligence services) try to sow distrust and paranoia among the ranks of

other countries' intelligence services because it often bring about purges and internal disfunction.

[TomSlick]

7. The beatings will continue until morale improves.

I would expect the FSB to have recruiting problems right now.

[Beetwasher.]

2. It's All Good

Going great. Really great.

[Takket]

3. hopefully one of them is pissed off enough, and has the nohow to assassinate Putin

but that little shitweasel is probably buried so deep in his bunker there's no getting to him

[TreasonousBastard]

4. So pootie purges the head of the division he set up-- very Stalin...

Pootie knows Stalin's tricks and shares his paranoia.

He is also quite aware of the public myths and private stories of Stalin's death. He obviously has great fear of warfarin, or better new stuff, in his food.

While he's doing his best to stay alive, the latest fear is the bloody bear he sent to run his Ukranian operation. This guy gets off on body counts.

[UTUSN]

5. K&R

[BobTheSubgenius]

8. So, there's a country that's going backwards, downhill,

and picking up speed. This is, in the view of some observers, a desperate last gasp to try to extend the shelf life of the empire. Within that view are observations on Russia being inevitably....in the words of one analystobserver "As we say in the business, 'fucked,'" with Putin trying to merely prolong his position for as long as possible.

It's frightening to try to imagine what he'll do if he and Russia begin to be obviously circling the drain.

[CaptainTruth]

9. Putin is planting the seeds of his own demise.

By that I mean, the end of his rule.

There are a lot of "ifs" but if he angers enough of the population (if they understand the sanctions making their lives miserable are due to Putin's actions) & if he angers enough of the oligarchs that surround him, & if he angers enough of the FSB (folks who know a lot of confidential things & have important contacts) & allows them to stay out of jail, & if he angers enough military leaders... a critical mass may be reached where those around him remove him from power.

I hope.

[tclambert]

10. If they tell him the ugly truth, he'll kill them. If they tell him pleasant lies, he'll fire them.

This calculation is not hard, Vlad. They're gonna lie to you.

And just when you start to trust someone, that's when the poison comes out.

[Niphu]

11. He's paranoid

Good.