Two top officials in Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, have reportedly been placed under arrest in Russia amid further fallout over the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Those who’ve been subjected to detention include Sergey Beseda, who has led the FSB’s foreign intelligence branch known as the Fifth Service, and Anatoly Bolyukh, who’s steered an entity called the Department of Operative Information, which operates under the broader entity that Beseda has led. The British publication called The Sunday Times reported on the detentions, citing investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov and human rights advocate Vladimir Osechkin.
⚡️ Evacuation train hit by shrapnel in Donetsk Oblast.
Overnight, a Lyman-bound passenger train was hit by shrapnel near Brusyn station, north of Slovyansk. As a result of the attack, one train conductor was killed and another wounded.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 13, 2022
According to Osechkin, FSB officers also recently raided some 20 addresses around the Russian capital, Moscow, apparently seeking to uncover information on FSB agents believed to have potentially communicated with journalists. As Osechkin put it, “The formal basis for conducting these searches is the accusation of the embezzlement of funds earmarked for subversive activities in Ukraine… The real reason is unreliable, incomplete and partially false information about the political situation in Ukraine.” Apparently, the push within the Putin regime is to find someone to blame for the hurdles faced by Russian invaders in Ukraine, who’ve been repelled from taking the Ukrainian capital city, Kyiv, through the presently unfolding third week of devastating fighting. According to Soldatov, the “spy chief’s defenestration attests to Putin’s growing fury towards the intelligence services, which he believes provided false information over the situation in Ukraine,” as summarized by The Sunday Times this weekend.
⚡️Zelensky: “We were able to evacuate nearly 125,000 people using humanitarian corridors.”
“The main task now is Mariupol. Our diplomatic effort is focused on aid to reach the city.”
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 13, 2022
A Western official who spoke to The Sunday Times indicated that they couldn’t conclusively confirm the reported espionage chief arrests, but as they explained it: “Both men have played a major role in intelligence operations against Ukraine for several years, and highly likely played a major role in the planning for the invasion of Ukraine. If claims of arrest are correct, this would indicate that Putin is seriously concerned about the FSB’s role in the military campaign and there could be significant changes at senior levels in the FSB.” On a related note, Oleksiy Danilov — who leads the National Security and Defense Council in Ukraine — recently revealed that over half a dozen top military leaders in Russia had apparently been sacked by Putin in relation to the invasion. These rearrangements of personnel within Russia’s leadership have been unfolding alongside apparently heavy losses for the country’s forces on the ground in Ukraine. Thousands of Russian troops have been killed, according to Ukrainian reports tentatively backed up by Western officials, and 13 Russian battalion tactical groups have been comprehensively wiped out by Ukraine, according to reports.
⚡️ Mayor of occupied Dniprorudne kidnapped by Russian troops.
Yevhen Matviiv is the second mayor Russian soldiers kidnapped since the war broke.
“War crimes are becoming systemic,” said Zaporizhzhia Oblast Governor Olexandr Starukh.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 13, 2022
During a Sunday CNN interview, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said: “It’s non-stop, we are under alarm of bombing attack. And right now, the fight north of Kyiv — it’s right around 15 miles from the center of Kyiv. Russians — it’s not secret, the goal. Their target is Kyiv. And the Russians have had this target already two weeks long, and Ukrainian soldiers destroyed the plans of Russians, and they can’t make a circle around Kyiv. That’s why we are ready to fight — we defend our city, and right now, huge, huge patriotic waves, because of people who never ever expected to take weapons in hand right now to defend houses, children, and the future of our country.”
These are the indicative estimates of Russia's losses as of March 13, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/1DNvuLHgIr
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 13, 2022
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
