Vladimir Putin does not get genuine information about setbacks in his invasion of Ukraine because his subordinates do not want to anger him, it has been reported.
The claim was made by the Telegram channel of VCHK-OGPU, whose handle says it reports about "the secrets of officials, oligarchs and gangsters" in Russia
In a post on Sunday, the channel cited a source "familiar with the situation" as saying that "bad news, especially about the war, was no longer reported to Putin "because it would make him "extremely annoyed."
The Russian leader would then tell the person giving bad news that they were under the influence of "western propaganda" according to the source, who said that those who reported successes would retain "constant access" to Putin.
"They have simply stopped bringing bad news to Putin because the president does not want to hear it," VCHK-OGPU, added in the post which was picked up by Ukrainian media outlets.
The post was shared by news outlet Nexta, which added, "The fact that Putin is sitting in an information bubble and does not want to upset himself with negative, but true, news about the war is far from news."
"Much more interesting is the fact that the Russians are sent to their death by an insane grandfather, completely cut off from reality, but they don't seem to mind."
Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment.
It is not the first report that Putin was not being given the full details of what was happening on the frontline in his invasion.
In March, U.S. intelligence officials said that Putin was being misinformed by his advisers about the poor performance of his troops, according to The Associated Press.
President Joe Biden said in March that Putin "seems to be self-isolated" and that there was some indication that he had "fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers."
White House spokesperson Kate Bedingfield had said the U.S. had information that Putin "felt misled by the Russian military" which caused tension between him and his military leadership".
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in March there is concern that an uninformed Putin could mean a "less than faithful" effort at ending the conflict through peace negotiations and that "you don't know how a leader like that is going to react to getting bad news."
Meanwhile, in February, military analyst Rob Lee told Radio Free Europe, that Putin "does not want to get bad news," which meant that Russian generals wanted 'good news' from their colonels and that whole process goes down the line."
"This means sometimes guys are just going to lie about things to keep their positions," he told the outlet.
