Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Litvinenko sees "over-centralization" as one of the weak points of the Russian state system, reported Ukrinform and BTA.
"Look at the situation in Makhachkala, Bashkortostan. Could they stop these demonstrations? There is no doubt here. Yevgeny Prigozhin's Rebellion - Could They Cope With It? They could handle it. They simply never received an order from the Kremlin. Without it, important decisions are never made. This increases the probability of an error," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Litvinenko also cited the opinion of one of the European think tanks about the Russian elite. "They divided the entire Russian elite into three groups - hostages, opportunists and believers. Believers are the smallest group and hostages are the largest at 60 percent. These are pragmatists who are gradually beginning to be influenced by the Stockholm syndrome," he said.
Also, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine noted that "we must understand for ourselves that Russians have never lived as well as now. I believe that the situation in Russia today represents fragile stability. This, quoting the title of a famous book, can go on forever until it ends," Litvinenko said.
In response to the question of whether Russia could exit the stage of military mobilization and return to a peaceful economy, Litvinenko suggested that "it is possible". "A change of leadership is necessary, and therefore a change of the regime,", he declared.
On March 29, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held the first meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine after the change of its secretary. On March 26, the head of state signed a decree on the dismissal of Oleksiy Danilov, who was replaced by Litvinenko.