The official word in Moscow is that the "special military operation," as the war against Ukraine is called, is going "according to plan."

However, media reports point to friction in the security apparatus because of the slow pace of the invasion.

The journalists Andrei Soldierov and Irina Borogan, who are specialists in the FSB secret service, citing their own sources, report that the leadership of the so-called Fifth Service, which is responsible for "operational information and international relations" in the FSB, has been placed under house arrest .

In an article for the exiled Russian - and recently blocked in Russia - news portal "Medusa" they write,

Frederick Smith

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

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One of the tasks of the Fifth Service is to keep countries in the post-Soviet space within the sphere of influence claimed by Russia.

This is directed against "color revolutions" such as in Ukraine and Georgia and pro-Western actors.

Beseda, now 68, whom the EU and the United States have placed on their sanctions lists, was in Kyiv during the fatal shooting on the Maidan in February 2014.

According to the FSB, he checked the security of the Russian embassy there.

However, “no one believed this version,” writesSoltov and Borogan.

Besseda's department was also responsible for providing Vladimir Putin with information about the political situation in Ukraine.

Such intelligence reports are said to be the main sources of information for the Russian President, who is a self-declared Internet skeptic.

“Provided with what he himself wanted to hear”

Apparently, Putin and the army leadership expected little resistance and a quick capture of Kiev.

They wanted to set up a pro-Russian regime soon.

Similarly, Russian state media use the word "liberation" when reporting successes from Ukraine;

Protests from occupied cities like Cherson and Melitopol are not an issue, nor are the kidnappings of mayors like that of Melitopol by Russian forces.

The public should be kept in the belief that everything is going according to plan.

Behind the scenes one might interpret it differently.

"It seems that after two weeks of war, Putin realized that he was misled," the journalists write.

Since the Fifth Service didn't want to upset Putin, "it provided him with what he wanted to hear himself."

There is no confirmation of action against Besseda and Boljuch;

that would also be unusual.

However, the analysis is consistent with the picture that has emerged from Putin's recent public appearances;

these made it clear that those who do not follow the president's lips risk being reprimanded.

Vladimir Osechkin, the founder of the legal protection portal Gulagu.net, also wrote on Facebook about the actions against Beseda and Bolyukh.

He also reported raids on more than 20 addresses of people suspected of having contacts with journalists and human rights defenders.

Ossechkin said this, citing a source in the FSB, published by Gulagu.net on March 4, with great resonance.

This report, which many believe to be authentic, also suggests that the order to invade came as a surprise to Putin's own services.

The leadership dismissed Western accusations of attack preparations as "hysteria."

And in Moscow, many assumed that a war would also have such dire consequences for Russia that Putin would stop at the threat.