Over the last year Russian security officials began to notice a frightening pattern. A growing number of men who had been involved in the Ukraine war were dying, but from murder instead of natural causes.There's more at the link.
Bombs, bullets and seeming accidents have killed a hundred or more people involved in supporting Russia in Ukraine. This included Ukrainian traitors as well as Russian army veterans and senior officers, plus members of Russia’s police, intelligence and security services.
It gets worse, the Ukrainian SBU internal security agency appears to have organized this campaign as they have had similar operations in the past. The Russian FSB, the successor to the dreaded Soviet era KGB, has been on the case and reported that this terror campaign is well organized and extensive.
Worse, the FSB found that many people in Russia were active in carrying out these killings. This is because several million Russians and Ukrainians were displaced from Ukraine during the war. Some fled, other were forced into Russia. The SBU has been in touch with many of these former Ukraine residents and found many of them willing to fight back against the Russians from inside Russia.
Since 2022 more of these exiles have turned against Russia and the SBU took advantage of that. The FSB knows this because they have managed to discover some of the shipments of weapons and explosives shipped into Russia from European countries for these Ukrainian operatives.
Some of the weapons used were obtained in Russia. As disabled or deserting Russian soldiers returned home, some brought weapons and explosives with them as souvenirs. Others planned to use these items for criminal activities.
It’s not just the Ukrainians who are bringing the war home to Russia; many pro-Ukraine Russian veterans of the war are doing so as well.
Russian intelligence noted that a growing number of these attacks are against Russian government officials. While Russian officers and troops are guilty of atrocities in Ukraine, their superiors are responsible. The attack victims are beginning to include more senior government officials and the FSB fears that the campaign will eventually include Vladimir Putin and his close associates.
Providing additional security for that many senior officials cannot be done. The growing labor shortage in Russia extends to government departments. Wealthy Russians have been able to send their families abroad for extended visits, at least until the war and its domestic hazards are past.
All the reliable personnel security people are employed and finding additional people is nearly impossible. The Ukrainians figured this out first and timed their internal Russian assassination program for when the targets would have the least protection.
If Russian officials are constantly looking over their shoulders and under their cars (for explosives), it will take a heavy toll on morale, which must already be pretty low. After all, how many Russians in Moscow really believe in Putin's war? How many would gladly see Putin dead if the deed could be done?
Despite Trump's efforts to mediate an end to the carnage, Putin has a tiger by the tail and he can't let go until he can claim, truthfully or otherwise, that he has won a glorious victory for Mother Russia. To just pack up and go home now after nearly a million casualties and untold economic harm to his country, would not only disgrace him in the history books, it'd almost certainly invite a coup that would not end well for him.
