Putin, isolated and distrustful, leans on handful of hard-line advisers

wsj

14 min read . Updated: 25 Dec 2022, 05:26 PM IST Evan Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Putin expected the war in Ukraine to be swift, popular and triumphant (via REUTERS) — Mr. Putin expected the war in Ukraine to be swift, popular and triumphant (via REUTERS)

Russia’s president built a power structure designed to deliver him the information he wants to hear, feeding into his miscalculations on the Ukraine war

Russian troops were losing the battle for Lyman, a small city in eastern Ukraine, in late September when a call came in for the commanding officer on the front line, over an encrypted line from Moscow.