Putin manages the war almost "by hand" and has assumed a general role.

The Russian general Alexander Dvornikov, who commanded the invaders in Ukraine, had problems with alcohol, and his subordinates did not trust him because of his lack of professionalism.

Bellingcat investigative journalist Christo Grozev spoke about this in an interview with the Russian project To Be Continued.

According to him, Putin directs the war almost "by hand". No one from the environment knows what he will decide in the near future.

He can drag this out (the war in Ukraine) until the end of the year and lose, or maybe decide tomorrow

Christo Grozev

The investigator believes that Putin has taken on the role of a general. This happened around the same time that Dvornikov was appointed.

Dvornikov's reputation from Syria within the army was not very high. They presented to the public that he was a tough strategist, but they already knew that his ability to coordinate different types of troops was not very high … At the same time, Putin decided not to trust his generals

Christo Grozev

The journalist explains that the Russians won victories in Syria, but they received them not thanks to, but instead despite Dvornikov. He drank a lot and gave ridiculous orders. Therefore, none of the officers who worked with Dvornikov trusted him.

He had excesses with alcohol, there were situations when he decided to start a war at night without any intelligence support. They didn’t obey him and simply ignored orders. I can’t imagine that this didn’t reach Putin

Christo Grozev

Also, Bellingcat investigative journalist Christo Grozev said that only 20 people close to the dictator knew about the start of a full-scale war against Ukraine in Russia. And one of them "leaked" information to the United States.