Russian Security Council Secretary Mykola Patrushev and FSB Director Oleksandr Bortnikov were the most ardent supporters of an armed invasion of Ukraine, effectively convincing President Vladimir Putin to launch the operation. The British publication The Times writes about it. It publishes excerpts from a forthcoming book by journalist Owen Matthews based, the author says, on interviews with Russian officials familiar with the history of the invasion.
According to the author, Patrushev, Bortnikov and, in their opinion, other figures of the Russian security agencies were convinced of the need for a "preemptive" strike on Ukraine, claiming that it was necessary to save Russia from the allegedly growing strategic threat from the West. As it is claimed, the director of the Russian Guard, Viktor Zolotov, in a conversation with the chief editor of the closed radio station "Echo of Moscow" Oleksiy Venediktov, claimed that "Ukraine does not exist", it is only the territory through which the "border between America and Russia" passes.
Among those who directly prepared the invasion, in addition to Patrushev, Bortnikov and Putin himself, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was named. However, he is said to have played the role not of an ideologue, but of an executor who sometimes showed vacillation. He called Patrushev the most important figure among Putin. The publication points to the important role of the isolation of the Russian president after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic - the circle of people with whom Putin consulted has significantly decreased, and people who believe in the need to establish control over Ukraine in order to fight the West have become the majority. One of them, it is claimed, was businessman Yuriy Kovalchuk.
A decision in principle on war was taken, it is claimed, by the end of the summer of 2021. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, however, was tasked with trying to get major concessions from the West to avoid war. Lavrov himself, it is claimed, wanted to achieve a peaceful outcome of the confrontation and was convinced that Putin also wanted it. Russia's demands for so-called security guarantees formulated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in December 2021 were not acceptable to the West. At the same time, as The Times notes, Western diplomats, including British ones, misinterpreted these demands - they believed that Russia wanted to negotiate and convince the West of the need to make some concessions as part of a compromise, while it was actually an ultimatum.
According to The Times, most representatives of the Russian elite, even members of the Security Council, did not know about Putin's decision to start the war until February 21. As it is claimed, after the start of the war, Putin's press secretary Dmytro Peskov noted in a private conversation that most of the members of the Security Council (among them, for example, Lavrov) were told about the upcoming attack on Kyiv only after the meeting of this body at which recognition was discussed the so-called "DPR" and "LPR".
At the Security Council meeting itself on February 21 - the Times again refers to Peskov - its participants were told that it would be broadcast live. In fact, it was shown in the recording.
Putin's statement about the start of the so-called special operation was allegedly recorded on February 23. The next day, early in the morning, a large-scale invasion of Ukraine began.
Russian government officials have not yet commented on the Times report.