Thread by @TheStudyofWar

#Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed that there is infighting in the #Kremlin inner circle, that the Kremlin has ceded centralized control over the Russian information space, and that #Putin apparently cannot readily fix it. isw.pub/UkrWar031123

https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1634680798975516674

2/ During a panel discussion Zakharova said that the #Kremlin cannot replicate the Stalinist approach of establishing a modern equivalent to the Soviet Information Bureau to centrally control #Russia’s internal information space due to fighting among unspecified Kremlin “elites.”

3/ #Zakharova’s statement is noteworthy and supports several of ISW’s longstanding assessments about deteriorating #Kremlin regime and information space control dynamics.

4/ It is unclear why #Zakharova — a seasoned senior spokesperson — would have openly acknowledged these problems in a public setting. isw.pub/UkrWar031123

5/ Zakharova may have directly discussed these problems for the first time to temper Russian nationalist milbloggers’ expectations regarding the current capabilities of the Kremlin to cohere around a unified narrative — or possibly even a unified policy. isw.pub/UkrWar031123