A Big Failure by Intelligence and the FSB: How Russia Slept Through the Attack on Kursk Oblast

A big mistake by intelligence and the FSB: how Russia missed the attack on the Kursk region Petro Sineokiy

The events in the Kursk region are a failure of Russian intelligence officers. But it is worth noting that the operation was planned really well.

About this 24 ChannelSecurity expert Sergei Migdal said, noting that the events in Kursk indicate a failure of Russian intelligence. There may be different reasons for this.

There is no specific data here. There are situations when correct intelligence data is not converted into correct decisions from the command. But it is also possible that the intelligence simply slept through everything.

It may be because the command and political leadership do not trust analysts and intelligence sources. It may be because intelligence information should lead to strong policy changes and radical decisions. And the command or political leadership does not want to do this, – said Migdal.

In any case, these events should be considered a failure of Russia. The occupiers were not ready for such a situation. The operation itself was indeed well organized.

What to expect next

As Migdal noted, it is clear that the Russian units were in a state of panic or serious stress. Although the Kremlin decided not to publicly react to this.

Putin described everything as a “provocation” at a Security Council meeting, after which he began discussing tourism. It seems that they were reacting to the explosions in Crimea, strikes on strategic airfields, etc.

The final verdict on how successful the operation was can be made in a few weeks. Then we will see how events unfold. The fact that the Russians are forced to transfer units from the Donetsk direction, which were on the offensive, to the Kursk region – this was certainly one of the tactical goals of the operation. It has been achieved, – noted Migdal.