In Russia, two destructive processes developing, threatening authoritarian framework – Ukraine official

That’s according to Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, Ukrinform reports.

"In Russia, right now, two scandalous processes are developing. Both, incidentally, are extremely destructive for the authoritarian framework of the aggressor power," said the adviser.

Podoliak explained that the first process is panic among the population of the most depressed and traditionally silent regions of Russia, which arose after the government’s attempt to launch partial mobilization. According to Podoliak, in order to alleviate this panic, Russian defense officials went public with a statement that the mobilization was actually taking place, but it was masterminded by the Ukrainian intelligence.

"There is no doubt that Ukrainian specialists are really professional and easily run psyops in Russia. However, there is an obvious effort to justify their attempt to draft more soldiers to compensate for the growing manpower losses sustained within their ‘genius special operation,’” Podoliak added.

At the same time, another process is developing in the context of the so-called “disappearance” from public space of certain figures from among the Russian elite. Podoliak noted that in this regard, coming to the fore are either propaganda pundits or those who had long been written off and sent to serve including in the Security Council.

"The most organic in this scheme is (Dmitriy - ed.) Medvedev. His reappearance in the public space directly indicates that the real ruling elite is renouncing public loyalty and seeking an opportunity to somehow escape from the 'Russian warship,'" the adviser said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on February 24, Russian President Putin announced the launch of a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been destroying key infrastructure and residential neighborhoods.

Martial law was imposed in Ukraine and general mobilization was announced.