Putin's inner circle narrows after Kursk defeat
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, following the defeat of his army near 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 getting more difficult. The publication cites the example of the new Deputy Defense Minister and the president's niece Anna Tsivileva, who last week was promoted to the position of Secretary of State.
Face-to-face meetings with Putin
Bloomberg sources report that she is influential enough to hold face-to-face working meetings with Putin and close enough to see him at informal events and receptions.
The now 52-year-old Tsivileva has direct access to Putin, which even her boss in the Ministry of Defence, Andrei Belousov, did not have.
Putin currently relies on old, trusted advisors to lead the armed conflict. He instructed his former personal bodyguard, Secretary of the State Council Alexei Dyumin, to be his "eyes and ears" in monitoring operations aimed at "expelling the Ukrainian army from the Kursk region."
Putin loses trust: The effect of the Kursk defeat
Following the debacle at Kursk, a source within the Russian Ministry of Defence, as reported by "Important Stories," indicates that Putin has lost trust in the General Staff. In any future crisis, he is expected to rely exclusively on individuals who have demonstrated personal loyalty to him.
Following the former Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, trust was also lost in former Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev. His old guard is already being removed from the FSB. Most likely, in the near future, one of the key generals of Patrushev's team and the entire FSB - head of the constitutional order protection service, Alexei Sedov, responsible for chasing Putin's political opponents, will leave his position.
Patrushev was transferred to the position of president's advisor on the shipbuilding industry.
source: Bloomberg / The Moscow Times / Important Stories
