A small but growing number of high-ranking individuals within the Kremlin are starting to question Vladimir Putin’s decision to go to war with Ukraine as the invasion nears the two-month mark, a report said Wednesday.
The critics, who occupy top posts in Russia’s government and state-run businesses, “believe the invasion was a catastrophic mistake that will set the country back for years,” Bloomberg News is reporting, citing ten people with knowledge of the situation.
The sources say the decision to invade Ukraine was made by Putin and just a handful of other Russian elites, such as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Russian Gen. Valery Gerasimov and Nikolai Patrushev, who heads the Security Council of Russia.
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As the war has dragged on with Russian military losses mounting, Putin, the sources told Bloomberg, has continued to dismiss warnings from other officials about the economic costs of the war and has been telling them that even though Russia will pay a large cost, the West has left him no choice but to attack Ukraine.
Some of the officials also have been growing more concerned about the potential of Putin using nuclear weapons if faced with failure in the war, the sources claimed.
The Bloomberg report says support for Putin remains high amongst Russia’s elite with many buying into the Kremlin narrative that Russia will overcome sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies.
“Still, more and more top insiders have come to believe that Putin’s commitment to continue the invasion will doom Russia to years of isolation and heightened tension that will leave its economy crippled, its security compromised and its global influence gutted,” it added.
