Displaying items by tag: Putin under pressure

The head of Britain’s MI6 foreign spy service, Richard Moore, has said that Putin is clearly under pressure in the wake of the Wagner mutiny attempt in June. In his second speech since becoming MI6 chief in 2020, Richard Moore also appealed to Russians appalled by the war in Ukraine to ‘join hands’ with his intelligence service and bring the bloodshed to an end. He said there appeared little prospect of Moscow regaining momentum in Ukraine, adding that he was optimistic about Kyiv’s counter offensive. This follows Russia evacuating thousands of people in the Crimean peninsula after a military training base fire in the Kirovske district. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s port city of Odessa sustained massive Russian airstrikes the day after Putin pulled out of a deal allowing safe grain exports from the region. The Odessa military administration said the attack was very powerful.