Published: Just now
Not even Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov knew about the invasion in advance.
Hours later, worried oligarchs flocked to the Kremlin.
One of them caught sight of Lavrov and asked how Putin could keep his plans secret.
– He has three advisors. Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, was the answer.
In a long report ahead of the anniversary, the Financial Times reveals a series of new details about what was going on in Moscow when Putin ordered the invasion.
The newspaper has referred to several sources with current or former location inside the Kremlin. They have all asked to remain anonymous to reveal sensitive details about the course of events.
According to the Financial Times, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was unaware of Putin’s decision until the very end. Only a few hours before the war started, he received a phone call with the news.
Who made the call is kept secret, but the call made Lavrov one of very few with any knowledge of what lay ahead. Most of the decision-makers in the Kremlin were unaware until Putin gave his televised speech in the morning in which he announced that “a special military operation” had been launched in Ukraine.
Oligarchs gathered in the Kremlin
Later that day, several dozen oligarchs gathered in the Kremlin, the Financial Times reports. The meeting had been called at short notice and was described as chaotic. The oligarchs knew that the invasion would lead to sanctions and endanger their wealth.
– Everyone completely lost it, says a person who was there to the FT.
Before the meeting, one of the oligarchs caught sight of Lavrov in the corridors of the Kremlin. He asked why Putin had decided to invade Ukraine, but got no answers. Lavrov knew nothing.
When the oligarch followed up with the question of how Putin was able to keep the plans so secret within the government, he received the following answer from the Russian foreign minister, according to the newspaper:
– He has three advisors. Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great and Catherine the Great.
Same thing as 2014
Lavrov’s mocking words reflect the newspaper’s description of a leader who for several years has increasingly closed himself off from the outside world and ignored dissenting opinions from his advisers.
Even before the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Putin had kept his decision close to his body, not even informing his own Security Council. When he discussed the plans in a nightly meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and three other selectmen, he brushed aside their initial criticism.
– This is a historic moment. If you don’t agree, you can leave here, Putin said, according to Financial Times sources.
After the invasion last year, international media reported early on that Putin believed Ukraine would fall within days. The FSB security service had given him the information he wanted to hear – that the Russian forces would be received as liberators and that the Ukrainians would offer no resistance.
Putin ran over the advisers
At a meeting just three days before the war began, even Nikolai Patrushev, chairman of the Russian Security Council and one of the Kremlin’s most high-profile advocates of war, is said to have suggested to Putin to give diplomacy another chance.
– He knew what bad condition the army was in and told Putin. But just like in 2014, Putin ran over them, insisting he was best informed, said a person close to the Kremlin.
An American source makes the assessment that Putin became overconfident.
– He knows better than his advisers in exactly the same way that Hitler knew better than his generals.
“No one can tell the truth to Putin”
A year into the war, Putin has realized that the reality looked different – but according to the FT, that has not made him less convinced to run the rope.
A former Kremlin official states that he has said the following to people in his inner circle:
– It turned out that we were completely unprepared. The army is a mess, our industry is a mess. But it’s good that we were told this way rather than when NATO invades us.
The informants describe how, after the invasion, Putin has become even more isolated and detached from reality.
– Stalin was a madman, but a good leader because you couldn’t lie to him. But no one can tell the truth to Putin. People who do not trust anyone begin to listen to a very small group of people who lie to them.
Task: Has ruled out nuclear weapons
Several times during the war, Putin and other Russian representatives have made more or less explicit threats about nuclear weapons.
But according to two sources close to the Kremlin, Putin has already ruled out the option, writes the FT. He is said to have concluded that even a small nuclear bomb in Ukraine would do more harm than good for Russia.
– He has no reason to press the button. Say you were going to detonate a tactical atomic bomb in Zaporizhzhya. Everything would be completely radiation damaged, you can’t get there and it will still represent Russian territory. So what’s the point? says an informant to the newspaper.