I think not. There is a bureaucracy, an office, and someone with a title, but there is no intelligence.
Putin did not know that a US trained and equipped Georgian Army was about to invade South Ossetia and went to the Olympics in China.
Putin didn’t know that the US was about to overthrow the Ukrainian Government and went to the Sochi Olympics.
Putin didn’t know that the West was deceiving him with the Minsk Agreement. This cost him 8 years and left him behind the eight ball and locked into a military conflict now 3 years old, a conflict that has expanded into US/NATO missile attacks into Russia. And still Russia stands down. Has Putin not been informed of the attacks? Lavrov told Carlson that Russia was not at war with the West.
Putin didn’t know that the US was about to overthrow Syria. In his interview with Tucker Carlson Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov spoke as if the renewal of the conflict in Syria allowed plenty of time to find a diplomatic solution. He had no idea that Syria would be overthrown by about the time the interview ended.
Russia had no realization, despite Biden explicitly telling them, that the Nord Stream Pipeline was going to be blown up by the US.
How is it possible that the Russian government never has a clue about imminent events that have adverse consequences for Russia?
Have the fearsome days of the NKVD and KGB convinced Russian liberals like Putin and Lavrov that intelligence services are dangerous and unnecessary in a democracy?
The sudden fall of Syria has completely changed the matrix. The US and Israel have gained tremendously at the expense of Russia and Iran. The Israeli government sees an enormous situational change that has greatly weakened the ability of Iran and Hezbollah to oppose Greater Israel.
The Jerusalem Post reports that Israel Defense Force Operations Command Chief Major General Israel Ziv said the fall of Syria has weakened the Axis of Resistance to Greater Israel and presents a historic opportunity that Washington and President Trump should capitalize on to remove Iran as an obstacle to US and Israeli interest.
The year 2024 ends with the erasure of Palestine and Syria by Washington and Israel. During 2025 the targets will be Lebanon and Iran. And Russia, of course.
The rapidity of Syria’s collapse raises the question whether Washington purchased Syria’s collapse with payments to generals and officials. The Syrian military had successfully repelled the previous assault with the aid of Russian airpower. But this time the army retreated from its positions and refused to fight, leaving the cities open for enemy opposition. Ekaterina Blinova offers some information here: https://sputnikglobe.com/20241208/why-are-israel-and-the-us-salivating-over-syrias-break-up-1121126981.html
