21-04-2022, 10:50 AM
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europ...in-ukraine
Almost eight weeks after Mr Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine, with military losses mounting and Russia facing unprecedented international isolation, a small but growing number of senior Kremlin insiders are quietly questioning his decision to go to war.
The ranks of the critics at the pinnacle of power remain limited, spread across high-level posts in government and state-run business. They believe the invasion was a catastrophic mistake that will set the country back for years, according to 10 people with direct knowledge of the situation. All spoke on condition of anonymity, too fearful of retribution to comment publicly.
More and more top insiders have come to believe that Mr 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. A few business tycoons have made veiled statements questioning the Kremlin's strategy, but many powerful players are too fearful of the widening crackdown on dissent to voice their concerns in public.
The sceptics were surprised by the speed and breadth of the response by the US and its allies, with sanctions freezing half of the central bank's US$640 billion (S$875 billion) in reserves and foreign companies ditching decades of investment to shut down operations almost overnight, as well as the steadily expanding military support for Kyiv that's helping its forces to blunt the Russian advance.
Senior officials have tried to explain to the president that the economic impact of the sanctions will be devastating, erasing the two decades of growth and higher living standards that Mr Putin had delivered during his rule, according to people familiar with the situation.
Almost eight weeks after Mr Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine, with military losses mounting and Russia facing unprecedented international isolation, a small but growing number of senior Kremlin insiders are quietly questioning his decision to go to war.
The ranks of the critics at the pinnacle of power remain limited, spread across high-level posts in government and state-run business. They believe the invasion was a catastrophic mistake that will set the country back for years, according to 10 people with direct knowledge of the situation. All spoke on condition of anonymity, too fearful of retribution to comment publicly.
More and more top insiders have come to believe that Mr 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. A few business tycoons have made veiled statements questioning the Kremlin's strategy, but many powerful players are too fearful of the widening crackdown on dissent to voice their concerns in public.
The sceptics were surprised by the speed and breadth of the response by the US and its allies, with sanctions freezing half of the central bank's US$640 billion (S$875 billion) in reserves and foreign companies ditching decades of investment to shut down operations almost overnight, as well as the steadily expanding military support for Kyiv that's helping its forces to blunt the Russian advance.
Senior officials have tried to explain to the president that the economic impact of the sanctions will be devastating, erasing the two decades of growth and higher living standards that Mr Putin had delivered during his rule, according to people familiar with the situation.