Kremlin Far Better Informed about Foreign Countries than about Its Own, Telegram Channel Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, September 2 – The Kremlin is vastly better informed about the situation in other countries than it is in its own, the Forbidden Opinion telegram channel says. As a result, it is making ever more mistakes domestically and has yet another reason to prefer to deal with foreign affairs where it can be more confident about the actions it takes.     

            The reasons for this paradoxical situation, the channel continues, are that the Kremlin does not have sources in which it can have confidence about domestic affairs but has many and varied sources about conditions in other countries (t.me/TheForbiddenOpinion/3934, reposted at kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5D6D46C380ECB).

            It would be one thing, the channel says, “if the Russian Federation had a quality sociological service which could tell the powers where they needed to tighten the screws and where they needed to make compromises.” But the Kremlin doesn’t. Instead, it hears from its loyalists what it wants to hear and thus acts blindly, doing the reverse of what it should.

            The situation is much better with regard t what is going on abroad. There, the Kremlin has multiple sources, including many independent of itself, and can act with far greater confidence.  That is a major reason why Putin prefers to deal with foreign policy rather than domestic. 

            Not having reliable sources about domestic affairs and having lost the touch he had at the start of his reign, Putin is making the kind of mistakes now that only add to his difficulties. He would prefer not to have to act domestically at all because when he has in recent times each of his moves has backfired..