Russian Generals Created a Fake War to Keep Putin Happy

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Become a Member Today and Unlock EXCLUSIVE Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKfak8fBm_Lhy4eX9UKxEpA/join  Ratcliffe’s warning strikes at the structural flaw of Russia's security apparatus: a system where bearing bad news invites personal ruin. Bypassing military channels to deliver this assessment directly to Bortnikov forced the FSB to confront its role in preserving the regime's blind spots. Moscow’s August 28 solid-fueled ICBM test launch served as a swift asymmetric counter-signal, utilizing strategic nuclear posture to project external strength while masking internal information paralysis.  ⏱️ CHAPTERS: 00:00 - CIA Director John Ratcliffe Moscow Visit Purpose Revealed 01:52 - Ratcliffe Warns FSB Chief Aleksandr Bortnikov of Misleading Battlefield Intel 04:01 - US Seeks Peace Negotiations Renewal as Russian Advances Crawl 06:10 - The 'Main Viewer' Project: Faked News Bulletins Tailored for Putin 08:13 - Russian Generals Fabricate Battlefield Victory Claims and AI Flags 09:50 - Defense Ministry Maps Disseminate Falsified Control Areas 11:02 - Kremlin Leadership Misinformed Since 2022 Invasion Launch 14:07 - Kremlin Downplays Ratcliffe Meeting as 'Semi-Routine' Contact 15:20 - Russia Fires Yars ICBM in Strategic Response to CIA Warning  Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join  #militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis #themilitaryshow  SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/2M3xU76P

Transcript

00:00When CIA Director John Ratcliffe made his unexpected trip to Russia, speculation ran rife.

00:07Why was he there? Could something major be in the offing?

00:10Was this a sign that the US is preparing to fight Russia more directly than ever before?

00:15There are still questions left to be answered about that trip.

00:18But now we know one thing for sure.

00:21Ratcliffe headed to Moscow to drop a bomb on Putin.

00:24A figurative bomb, of course.

00:26Putin hasn't been vaporized, but what he has received is a message from the main man in US intelligence.

00:32And that message is something that Putin's own generals would never deliver to their leader.

00:37This massive bombshell isn't what many speculated about when the news first broke of Ratcliffe's mysterious Moscow visit.

00:43The general consensus just a few days ago seemed to be that the CIA Director was delivering a warning to

00:48Putin

00:49that he would face severe consequences if he made the dumb decision to invade NATO territory.

00:54CNN carried this part of the story, adding that Ratcliffe also tried to encourage the Kremlin to cut off Iran

01:00so that the US could deliver the final blow to the country's regime.

01:04The Wall Street Journal also ran with the NATO warning angle,

01:07stating that unnamed sources familiar with the visit had told the outlet that Ratcliffe was telling Putin

01:12to turn back from his intended course of action before it was too late.

01:16There may still be some credibility to these interpretations of the visit.

01:19Ratcliffe is the spookiest of the spooks that the CIA has to offer, and everything he does is shrouded in

01:25mystery.

01:26However, it has since emerged that it wasn't just a NATO warning that Ratcliffe delivered.

01:31There was also a very different type of warning, and it's about something that could do even more damage to

01:36Putin

01:36than the response to a Russian invasion of NATO.

01:39But before we explain more, if you're enjoying the video, consider subscribing and let us know your thoughts below.

01:44You can also become a channel member for access to exclusive content that we don't publish publicly.

01:50Ratcliffe has a very special message in mind for Putin.

01:53It has nothing to do with NATO.

01:55Rather, Ratcliffe delivered the warning to Russia's leader that his own generals are likely delivering an inaccurate picture of the

02:01war in Ukraine to him,

02:02and that this false narrative was leading Putin to make rash and unwise decisions based on faulty information.

02:08Ratcliffe told those he met with that Russia's situation was deteriorating, and not just inside Ukraine itself.

02:15If Putin keeps following the false information that he's receiving, Ratcliffe warned,

02:19then Russia's economic position, and thus the future of the entire country,

02:24would become as compromised as its military and its geopolitical standing.

02:28This information comes from an exclusive report in the New York Times,

02:32which says that Ratcliffe delivered the bleak assessment of Russia's future and his warning to Putin during a meeting with

02:38the head of the Russian FSB,

02:40Alexander Bortnikov.

02:42It's unclear if Putin himself was around to receive the message directly,

02:46but if he wasn't, Bortnikov would have been the right man to receive it.

02:49Essentially, Ratcliffe's equivalent in Russian intelligence,

02:52Bortnikov oversees an organization that is gaining a lot of power inside Russia under Putin,

02:57especially since the launch of the Ukraine invasion.

02:59The FSB is the successor to the KGB,

03:03through the ranks of which Putin himself rose to seize power over Russia.

03:07Putin now entrusts the FSB to handle internet shutdowns,

03:11propaganda, and the prosecution of state enemies,

03:13and its power extends across Russia.

03:16If Putin is to have any chance of receiving Ratcliffe's message,

03:20Bortnikov is one of the few who are in position to deliver it,

03:23given that Putin has isolated himself from most of Russia.

03:26Whether Bortnikov actually tells Putin what Ratcliffe had to say is another question.

03:31After all, it serves Bortnikov and the FSB to keep Putin in his little bubble

03:36while the organization expands its own power.

03:38Contradicting the Wall Street Journal and its reports of threats related to NATO,

03:42the New York Times says that no mention of NATO was made,

03:45at least during the meeting with Bortnikov.

03:48Instead, Ratcliffe told his Russian equivalent that time is running out for Putin to cut a peace deal.

03:52If Putin doesn't act fast, the CIA director says,

03:56then he is essentially setting himself up for a fall

03:59that is only going to happen because he is relying on bad information.

04:02What we may have seen is the latest attempt by the US to revive the stalled negotiations

04:07between Russia and Ukraine, which have come to a standstill,

04:11likely due to Putin believing that Russia is winning the war in Ukraine.

04:14The CIA, which maintains channels of communication with the FSB and other Russian intelligence agencies,

04:20is perhaps hoping that Ratcliffe's visit will make an impression on Putin.

04:24After all, Putin is a former KGB man.

04:27There is one type of person that Russia's leader respects

04:29is the type of person who works in the shadows, manipulating events from behind the scenes.

04:34If such a grave message comes from that type of person,

04:38there is a chance that Putin might actually listen to what's being said.

04:42A chance, not a certainty.

04:43Another interesting element of this visit is that Ratcliffe hasn't been shy about

04:48discussing Russia's fortunes and failures inside Ukraine.

04:51He has spoken openly about Ukraine's mastery of drone technology,

04:56highlighting it as one of the main reasons why Russia's forces

04:59have made such paltry gains in Ukraine, especially in 2026.

05:03As the Kyiv Post points out, just a month before heading to Moscow on his secret visit,

05:08Ratcliffe talked about how the average life expectancy of a Russian soldier on the front

05:12was less than 35 minutes, as he pointed out that Russia has managed to snatch

05:17a grand total of 1% of Ukrainian territory during the last 18 months.

05:22That's a crawling rate of progress, and Russia still has 80% or so to go.

05:27At this rate, it would take Russia well over a century to capture all of Ukraine.

05:31So when Ratcliffe heads to Russia to warn Putin that he isn't getting accurate information,

05:36this isn't a play by the US.

05:38It's not an attempt to manipulate Putin using disinformation from the West.

05:42Ratcliffe believes what he's saying, which adds yet more value to the message,

05:46and there's a good reason why he believes it.

05:48Evidence has emerged long before the CIA director made his Moscow visit

05:52that Putin has been fed bad information, likely since the very beginning of his invasion.

05:57But before we explore that issue more, this is a reminder that you're watching the military show.

06:02We bring you the full picture, not just the headlines.

06:05Hit subscribe and enable notifications so you don't miss what we have coming next.

06:09There is plenty of evidence to suggest that Putin has no actual idea about what's happening

06:14in Ukraine, and that starts with a move made way back in 2011.

06:18Putin gets fed special versions of Russian news that are manipulated to only show him

06:23what he wants to see and hear.

06:25That's according to the former editor-in-chief of Vesti, Dmitry Skorobutov,

06:30which is a program on Russia's Rosaya One TV channel.

06:33During an interview with Anne Graham came out, Skorobutov made the amazing claim

06:38that Putin has been receiving separate news bulletins from those that are aired on Russian

06:42television as part of a project that is codenamed The Main Viewer.

06:46Here's how it all works, according to Skorobutov.

06:49It was like this.

06:50Let's say a regular Vesti bulletin aired at 8pm, after which the production crew stayed.

06:55We had instructions, accordingly, on what news to leave in this bulletin,

06:59what to add, where to embellish, where to remove, so that Putin would then be shown an ideal picture

07:04of the beautiful Russia of today.

07:06This is an insane revelation.

07:08Russian TV is already filled with disinformation and is designed by the state to paint as rosy

07:13a picture as possible of Russia.

07:15The Center for Eastern Studies makes that point, calling Russian TV a weapon of mass deception,

07:20especially during wartime.

07:22In short, these are TV shows that have already been massaged and manipulated so that they are

07:27approved by the Kremlin for public consumption.

07:29But the versions of these shows that Putin is watching are manipulated even further,

07:33meaning that Russia's leader doesn't even have a clearer view of what's really going

07:37on as his own people.

07:38An already distorted lens is being smeared with crap before it shoved in Putin's face.

07:43This program began in 2011, amidst mass protests in Moscow calling for fair elections,

07:49Skorobutov explains, stating,

07:51Putin's entourage were all shaken by Bolotnaya Square, and they tried to isolate him from

07:55real events, from the information environment, not to mention any contact with the outside

07:59world.

08:00That's how it works.

08:02Putin is being isolated by his own people.

08:05Whether that's due to those people wanting control, or their fear of what Putin will do

08:09to them if he doesn't hear what he wants to hear isn't clear.

08:12However, this television fakery is just the tip of an iceberg, so massive that it could end up

08:17sinking Russia. After Putin has watched his faked news shows, he will speak to his generals

08:22about the progress being made in Ukraine. It's during these conversations that the lies grow

08:26even larger. That's what Ratcliffe was warning about, and again, there is evidence to support

08:31his claims. Multiple outlets suggest that Putin is receiving falsified information from the front,

08:36starting with the Institute for the Study of War, or ISW.

08:39In a December 23rd ex-post, the ISW said that analysis of information from open-source

08:45outlets suggests that there is an increasing willingness among Russia's military to tell

08:49Putin lies about what's happening in Ukraine. The same group followed up these reports months

08:54later, noting in August that Russian claims of battlefield advances rarely tally with what's

09:00seen on the battlefield. The ISW offers examples. In Bily Kolodyaz, which is in Ukraine's

09:05Kharkiv Oblast, footage has been circulating online of the Russian flag flying on the settlement's

09:10outskirts. That footage is likely either AI-generated or altered using AI, as the settlement isn't

09:17under Russian control, the ISW says. This is just one of many settlements that Russia claims

09:22to control, but really doesn't. In other cases, Russia sneaks infiltrators into villages to raise

09:28their flag for a photo op before they run away to hidey holes. On the surface, this seems like

09:33propaganda that the Kremlin wants to use to convince the rest of the world that Ukraine

09:37is losing. But these pictures seem to be used to pacify Putin, too. So removed is Russia's

09:42leader from reality that all he needs to see is a flag waving in the breeze, and he'll believe

09:46anything that his generals tell him. Questions have to be asked about how much Putin really

09:51understands of the situation on the front, which is Ratcliffe's entire point. Even official

09:56maps being published by the Russian Defense Ministry spread the disinformation being fed to Putin.

10:01We saw that back in May, when the ISW again reported that leaked Defense Ministry maps shared

10:06on X, which the ISW says are believed to be authentic, showed Russia holding or entering

10:12several settlements including Richner, Zapazna, and Veselyanka. But at the time, there was no

10:17reported Russian presence in any of these settlements. Yet more lies from the Russian generals.

10:23Putin relies on this information and it feeds his perception and his public claims that Ukraine

10:28is on the edge of disaster. It isn't. But Putin doesn't seem to know it. The distorted picture

10:33that Putin relays to the outside world isn't distorted to Putin. It's the reality that he

10:38has been presented and Ratcliffe's bombshell visit was all about dispelling that reality.

10:44But Putin's problem is that he may be too far gone to listen even to somebody who runs in the

10:48intelligence circles that Russia's leader actually respects. After all, we told you that this iceberg

10:53runs deep. Putin hasn't just been receiving faked reports during the last few months.

10:58As the momentum shifts and Russia's fortunes fail, this lying has been happening from the very beginning

11:03and, at least initially, Putin seems to have been aware of it.

11:07When Russia invaded Ukraine, the so-called special military operation was only supposed to last a couple

11:12of days and it would lead to the fall of Kyiv and total Russian control. None of that happened.

11:18In the aftermath, Putin started asking why. By March 30, 2022, declassified intelligence showed

11:26that Putin felt that his military leaders had misled him about the situation in Ukraine from

11:30the start. That's according to a CNBC report from the time which claimed that Putin believed that the

11:36failed invasion was a result of the failure of military leaders to tell the truth about Russia's

11:40prospects and that this failure had resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military

11:46leadership. Senior advisors were too scared to tell Putin the truth. Former White House communications

11:51director Kate Bedingfield told reporters back in 2022, not a lot has changed in that respect,

11:57if Ratcliffe's visit is anything to go by. But what does seem to have changed is Putin's awareness.

12:02The catastrophic failure of the initial invasion was too big to hide, even from Putin. He was

12:07inevitably going to find out that his generals had lied when Russia didn't win in just a few days.

12:11And if he didn't get the message after a week or two, he'd have certainly gotten it once the

12:15operation became a full-blown war. Rather than learning the error of their ways,

12:21Russia's generals have leaned harder into their campaign of misdirecting their president.

12:25Only now, whatever awareness Putin might have had early on has disappeared.

12:29As the war has progressed, Putin has increasingly isolated himself from anybody who might be willing

12:34to tell him even a semblance of the truth of what's happening in Ukraine. As the spectator put it,

12:40Putin is a man who has lost touch with reality. Rather than simply ignoring the terrible state

12:45Russia is in right now, the outlet says, Putin has lost touch so badly that he now lives in a

12:50parallel reality where all of the decisions he makes are informed by data that confirms his own

12:55choices. No dissenting voices are allowed. No doses of reality that could lead to him making smarter

13:01choices, such as engaging in the peace talks Ratcliffe tried to tell Russia's leader that he needs.

13:06Putin believes he knows all because those around him ensure he knows nothing.

13:11Everything from the Kremlin to Russia's defense ministry has become an echo chamber where telling

13:16Putin what he wants to hear is incentivized and being the bearer of bad news can lead to a one

13:20-way

13:20trip out of an open window. It's almost sad in a way. Putin, the man who sees himself as a

13:27master

13:27manipulator who is able to use lies and deception to get his own way, is being deceived more than anybody

13:33else. Trapped, isolated in a bubble that is only getting smaller, believing his own lies because he doesn't

13:39even know that they're lies anymore. For Ratcliffe, the visit to Russia was about popping that bubble,

13:43not because he wants Putin to be better informed so Russia can do more in Ukraine.

13:47When that bubble pops, Ratcliffe believes, Putin will finally see the reality that has been hidden

13:52from him for so long, and he'll realize that Russia has to engage in peace talks. The entire

13:57country will collapse if Putin doesn't. The big question now is what happens in the wake of the

14:02bomb that Ratcliffe dropped. We're already starting to get some answers. The Kremlin is trying to downplay the

14:08visit as much as it can. It claims that Ratcliffe didn't meet Putin at all, which may well be true.

14:13The FSB wouldn't want Putin meeting anybody who could give him a dose of the reality that so many

14:17work so hard to hide. Russia's foreign intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, reportedly also met with

14:23Ratcliffe, and he described the encounter as little more than a working-level meeting,

14:28the Kyiv Post reports. Putin's favorite mouthpiece, Dmitry Peskov, has also confirmed the meeting,

14:33claiming that it happened on the intelligence agency's level, and that Putin was immediately

14:38informed of everything afterward. How true that is, given the message that Ratcliffe came to

14:43deliver, is up for debate. Even US President Donald Trump is downplaying Ratcliffe's trip,

14:48though this could be attributed to gamesmanship as much as anything else. Claiming that he hated to

14:53disappoint people, Trump said that the trip was semi-routine. It wasn't, and Trump knows it. This visit

14:59was the first trip Ratcliffe himself has taken to Russia, and also the first that any CIA director

15:05has taken since 2021, when William Burns warned Putin not to invade Ukraine. There was nothing

15:10routine about it. But perhaps the most telling aspect of Russia's response to Ratcliffe's visit

15:15came a few days later. After Ratcliffe delivered his bomb, Russia chose to showcase something explosive

15:21of its own. The country's strategic missile forces carried out a training launch of an

15:26Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, or ICBM. That missile hasn't been named, the Kyiv Post says in

15:32its report. However, we know that the missile used solid fuel, and the only ICBMs confirmed to be in

15:37Russia's arsenal that use this type of fuel are the Topol and Yars systems, both of which have ranges of

15:4310,500 kilometers, and collectively form 56% of Russia's land-based nuclear arsenal. The test,

15:51which took place on August 28th in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia, was reportedly successful,

15:57with the warheads striking targets on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. It's hard to believe that

16:02the timing is coincidental. Rather, it feels like a message is being sent to the US. The CIA had the

16:09temerity to send its director on an unannounced visit, and that director delivered a warning to

16:14members of Putin's inner circle. We don't know which version of that warning Putin received. Was it the

16:19one from Ratcliffe, or a faked version from those who Ratcliffe knows are misleading the Russian

16:24leader? Either way, Russia testing a missile that has the range to reach the US tells us that the

16:30message hasn't been received. Putin remains in his bubble. And that means he isn't going to do

16:35anything to prevent the collapse of Russia, caused by the lethal combination of his own hubris and

16:40ignorance. We'll tell you one thing for certain, Putin's ignorance did nothing to help Russia's

16:45forces in Liman. For months, Ukraine prepared something in that sector of the war. Then,

16:50it unleashed what it had readied. A secret counter-offensive that has massive ramifications

16:55for Putin's Donbas ambitions has been revealed, and you can learn all about it by watching our video.

17:00And before you go, everything you see here is researched, verified, and produced by real people.

17:05If you value that, subscribe, comment below, and consider becoming a member for access to exclusive

17:11content. And thank you, as always, for watching.

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