Russia’s oligarchs appear to have grown increasingly wary of Vladimir Putin and his war against Ukraine.
Not too long ago, an alleged phone call recording between Roman Trotsenko and Nikolai Matushevsky emerged online.
19FortyFive says, like a previous tape from March, where two oligarchs lambasted the Kremlin, this one does not hold back.
The following are possible quotes from Trotsenko on the recording:
-We love Russia, but the fact is that certain scumbags have succeeded in seizing power there. Nothing good can come of this; it’s all doomed to fail.
-Moscow’s streets will devolve into bloodshed.
– How can a country thrive and develop when the only driving ideology is financial gain, and the same group of people owns all the levers of power?
-They have no idea “what’s next,” and they know they will die someday without leaving anything behind. It will be a barren wasteland if anything survives the drought.
These strong claims accurately reflect the impasse into which Putin and his cronies have manipulated the country. And they are severe insults to the Russian dictator who is losing power.
Both Trotsenko and Matushevsky have, naturally, denied having this subversive conversation. However, the Sistema research project affiliated with Radio Liberty, the recording’s purported origin, believes there are solid grounds for accepting the recording as authentic.
If the conversation occurred, it proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Putin has lost the support of a significant portion of the Russian corporate sector. They have lost faith in Putin and rejected him as a leader. Putin cannot count on them or their social group to save his regime from an internal uprising.
Many Russian analysts believe that Putin and the FSB are at odds with one another due to Putin’s poor management of the war and his refusal to accept responsibility for the impending collapse of the system. Instead, Putin, predictably, blames the FSB and the General Staff for his intransigent incapacity.
In this light, it becomes moot whether either recording is genuine.
