Putin's allies, FSB officers display rare dissent for Ukraine war in leaked emails

A whistleblower at Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) leaked emails that depict that a civil war ha broken out among President Vladimir Putin's closest allies, according to trove of mails and documents accessed by the Newsweek. The allies of Russia’s authoritiarian leader have registered criticism and opposition to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as Russian troops retreated and the military operation faltered this week. The dissent among the officers of Russia’s FSB was highlighted by the Russian agent, dubbed the Wind of Change. 

"There will be battles of the regions for the division of resources. Or a scramble of various forces for control over regions or chunks of the country (Russia)," the agent was quoted as saying. He warned that Russia could collapse into total chaos.

A growing anger and dissent among FSB officers

In his regular letter to Russian dissident exile Vladimir Osechkin, the FSB agent revealed that there has been growing anger and dissent among the FSB officers. The allies have been revolting against Putin’s war in the neighbouring Ukraine. Russian human rights activist, Osechkin runs the anti-corruption website gulagu.net. The emails to him were shared by Igor Sushko, the executive director of the Wind of Change Research Group, a Washington-based non-profit organization with Newsweek. Sushko has been translating the Russian communique into the English language since March 4 when it was first sent. The mails were verified as authentic by Christo Grozev, an expert on the FSB. He told the outlet that at least two FSB officers who said that the emails dated for November were authentic had "no doubt it was written by a colleague.”

"Believe me—that is far more terrifying. I assert, and this is by no means the solitary private opinion of one simple (FSB) employee: we have f***ed up the country. We (FSB) screwed up the country not on February 24, when this whole affair began, but much earlier, when February 24 became possible in principle," the communication read, as accessed by Newsweek. 

"Chaos, civil war, collapse—yes, it's all ahead of us. It is inevitable," the FSB agent said. "Too many in Russia have crossed the point of no return. They plan to be little czars in the areas they manage to capture. At least, that's the way they are thinking."

In the emails, the agent of FSB clarified that there is an "inevitable" civil war within the agency by the officers. Russia will soon "descend into the abyss of terror” he warned, adding that Russia will get the war fatigue soon as it fails to fetch the motive. The emails also focus on the recent case of the PMC Wager’s beheading of its own fighter for desertion and surrendering to Ukrainian forces. It criticized Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Putin ally and founder of the mercenary outfit the Wagner Group, and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The duo also widely derided Putin’s war displaying rare dissent, and suggesting that there are loopholes within the Kremlin. This comes as the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) had also suggested in October that Prigozhin and his military group might "pose a threat to Putin's rule” due to rising dissent against the Ukraine invasion.