Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Vladimir Putin is suddenly looking less in control of Russia’s destiny

Vladimir Putin is suddenly looking less in control of Russia’s destiny

Russia’s information and propaganda campaigns are becoming more erratic and incomprehensible by the day. It is hard to discern who they benefit, certainly not the personal autocracy of Vladimir Putin. These may be the first signs of Russia being a house divided over the conduct and leadership of its forces in the Ukraine war.
Last Wednesday Evan Gershkovich, 31, of the Wall Street Journal, was arrested on serious charges of espionage – the implication being that he was about to reveal unpalatable truths about Russia’s war economy. The arrest of such a prominent correspondent is unprecedented in post-Cold War Russia, a sign of reckless defiance or desperation from the Kremlin, maybe.

Equally obscure is the weekend assassination of the pro-war blogger Maksim Fomin, aka Vladlen Tatarsky, at the Street Food Bar # 1 in St Petersburg, a known haunt of ‘Cyber Z’ ultranationalists who say they are ‘Russia’s information troops’.

Tatarsky’s blogs frequently criticised the conduct of Russia in the war in Ukraine, where he spent time reporting from the front line. Criticism of the Putin Kremlin was ill-concealed, by implication. The bar had been set up by Putin’s erstwhile ally, now critic, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader and founder of the Wagner mercenary group.

Within 24 hours we have had the rather dodgy videoed confession of the bombing by Darya Trepova, a former peace demonstrator allegedly linked to the leading dissident Alexander Navalny. Navalny supporters have said the whole thing is a fake, possibly the work of the security service, the FSB.

The sense of in-fighting was enhanced by Prigozhin saying his Wagner troops had at last conquered Bakhmut, the bloodiest battleground in the war so far, hoisting the Russian flag at the town hall. Within hours of this, however, it became clear that Ukraine’s forces still held strategic parts of the town.

As an exercise in misdirection, all the sound, fury and propaganda would hardly qualify Putin’s men as conjurors worthy of the Magic Circle. They have failed to distract Russians at large from two brutal facts. Today Finland joins Nato, more than doubling the common land frontier between Nato allies and Russia. With Sweden likely to follow this summer, the Baltic becomes a Nato lake dominating maritime access to St Petersburg, Russia’s most important European port.

Second, the propaganda tricks can’t hide the fact that Ukraine will start a crucial set of offensives. In the past 14 months Kyiv’s commanders have proved themselves the equal or better at military bluff than the Kremlin.

This time they will play the Russians at their own well-established game of maskyrovska, a series of feints and manoeuvres in which the real main attack is only rvealed at the last possible moment. I suspect a series of strikes are being prepared from Kharkiv to Kherson and the Crimea, with a number of guerrilla operations inside Russian-held territory and along the border.

As long as the principal allies of Nato and the EU stay solid, led by the US, Germany, France and the UK, Ukraine can prove this summer that Russia’s current plans court disaster. For all the bluster and fantasy propaganda, Putin is now appearing less and less in control of the timetable and agenda for his country’s destiny.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×