24 May 2026
Discontent with President Vladimir Putin is growing in Russia’s highest echelons of power due to the protracted war with Ukraine, mounting economic problems, and internet blockages, sources close to the Kremlin and European intelligence officials told the Guardian.
“This year, the mood of the elite has definitely changed… there’s deep disappointment in Putin,” said an influential businessman. According to him, “there’s a growing sense of impending disaster.” “More and more people understand that completely senseless, self-destructive decisions continue to be made. Those who used to defend Putin no longer do so. Any sense of the future has vanished,” he added.
The Russian president has no intention of ending the war, convinced he can completely seize Donbas by the end of the year, according to sources familiar with his position. “Putin is obsessed with Donbas and won’t stop any sooner,” one of the publication’s sources told the newspaper. At the same time, those close to the president warned that if Russia succeeds in breaking Ukraine’s resistance, Putin will move on and attempt to seize the remaining parts of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, annexed in 2022. “He’s not a long-term strategist. His appetite grows with food,” one source said.
A source familiar with Kremlin discussions claimed that Putin is receiving distorted information about developments on the front lines, where, according to the Pentagon, the Russian army has begun to suffer direct territorial losses. “Of course, officials and military personnel are painting the president a rosy picture. They’re lying to him. That’s how the system Putin has built works,” he explained. European intelligence confirms this, but they don’t know to what extent the head of state is truly aware of the problems on the battlefield.
The elite’s nervousness is also heightened by rising inflation, tax increases, and pressure on business. The arrest of billionaire Vadim Moshkovich, founder of the agricultural holding Rusagro, has caused particular concern. Nevertheless, the oligarchs are afraid to voice dissent, even though, according to a businessman interviewed by the publication, many are ” deep down in horror.”
“The business elite is playing Russian roulette. They’re hoping their neighbor will suffer, while they themselves will be spared,” said Oleg Tinkov, a banker who condemned the war and now lives in exile. “Who will stand up to him [Putin]? Everyone’s just waiting for him to die,” he added.
A senior European intelligence official said Russian officials were “currently at the stage of recognizing” the problems both on the battlefield and in the economy, but had no plans to overcome them.
Large-scale internet blockages and the growing influence of the FSB, which is lobbying for such measures, have caused particular irritation within the elite. According to the publication’s sources, representatives of the Kremlin’s political bloc, including Dmitry Peskov and Sergei Kiriyenko, tried to persuade the president to ease the restrictions, but to no avail. “As long as the war continues, Putin will prioritize the security services,” said a source close to the Kremlin. “At the dinner table, everyone talks about the internet. In this regard, we’re currently somewhere near North Korea,” stated another.
Maybe it’s true that certain elite cockroaches are tired of this old, stinking gnome, but what are they going to do about him?
Not much as long as he’s hiding in his rat hole and protected by the FSB. If they get the FSB on their side, it’s game over.
Maybe they’re working on that.
“Putin is obsessed with Donbas and won’t stop any sooner,”
He was obsessed with the whole of Ukraine 4 years back. I guess he got his ambitions curtailed a little by Ukraine. Once he loses Crimea, even the faithfull asslickers might decide he needs lobbing out of a window, or suffer an “heart attack.”
The cockroaches in mafia land that can still think for themselves see the weakness in putler by his downgraded war goals.