People from Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, including his press secretary Dmitry Peskov and first deputy head of the presidential administration Sergei Kiriyenko, tried to persuade the Russian leader to abandon tougher measures to restrict the internet, The Guardian reported, citing sources.
According to two of the newspaper’s interlocutors, these attempts failed. The sources do not provide any other details.
The Guardian notes that the Russian Internet and its restrictions are under the supervision of the Second Service of the Federal Security Service (The Bell newspaper was the first to write about this). The newspaper’s source says: “As long as the war continues, Putin will depend on the security forces.”
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A business official familiar with the situation says that amid growing economic problems at home, “the mood among the elite has definitely changed this year.” According to him, there is “deep disappointment in Putin.” He does not believe that “everything will suddenly collapse,” but notes that “foolish and self-destructive decisions are still being made.” “People who used to defend Putin don’t do that anymore,” he adds.
At the same time, according to sources, Putin still expects to seize the entire Donbas region by the end of the year. However, he no longer relies on the US on this issue: two of the Guardian’s interlocutors say the Russian president has “lost confidence” in Donald Trump’s ability to force Kiev to agree to a territorial transfer as part of a potential deal.