President fully informed?
Baerbock: Putin apparently believes his own lies
4/1/2022, 9:37 p.m
Does the Russian President have a realistic picture of what is happening in the war in Ukraine? The German foreign minister doubts that. The chancellor also assumes that Putin is not fully informed about the situation by his own secret services.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of using lies and false information to go to war against Ukraine. “Obviously he believes this false narrative that he is telling the world,” said the Green politician in a CNN interview conducted in English.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron also confronted Putin about it. They apparently told him that he started the war with lies and violated international law. “But obviously he doesn’t listen to my Chancellor, nor to other international partners,” the Foreign Minister continued. Baerbock added that the few people with direct access to Putin dared not tell him the truth about the situation in Ukraine, especially that his troops are not nearly as successful as they thought.
Scholz also assumes that Putin does not have comprehensive knowledge of the situation in Ukraine. He was convinced “that the Russian President is not properly informed,” said the SPD politician in a podcast episode of “Germany 3000 – a good hour with Eva Schulz” that appeared on Sunday. “That his own services withhold many truths from him. For example, how many Russian soldiers died in this war.”
Report: Putin discusses domestic threats
Meanwhile, the Russian news agency Tass reported that Putin is discussing additional measures with members of his Security Council to “prevent and neutralize internal security threats”. Details remain open. Last month, Putin warned of “traitors” whom the West wanted to use as a fifth column to destroy Russia.
Several Western secret services had previously reported that advisers were misinforming Putin about what was happening in the war. They were afraid to tell him the truth, said the head of the British secret service agency GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming. US Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby said it was a concern if Putin was misinformed or uninformed.
The Kremlin denied these claims. “It turns out that neither the (US) State Department nor the (US Department of Defense) Pentagon have any real information about what is happening in the Kremlin,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov according to the Interfax agency on Thursday. “They just don’t understand what’s happening in the Kremlin. They don’t understand President Putin. They don’t understand the mechanism of decisions. They don’t understand the style of our work.”