The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Bill Burns, testified to the Intelligence Committee of the United States House of Representatives, on Tuesday (8), and declared that “something like 13 thousand or 14 thousand” Russian citizens were arrested for protesting the invasion of Ukraine.
Burns said the current opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin among the country’s citizens is “no small thing”, but noted that the prevalence of state media will hamper the rapid construction of popular dissent.
“You see funerals in Russia of, you know, young Russian soldiers who were killed in Ukraine coming home and that will clearly have an impact over time. You also see, in relatively small numbers, a lot of very brave Russians on the streets protesting,” Burns said.
“Some 13,000 or 14,000 have been arrested since then, which is no small feat in a deeply repressive country like Russia,” he added.
Burns said the US will monitor Putin’s domestic popularity as the war in Ukraine continues, but warned that Putin’s control over the media will help prevent any popular unrest.
“In an environment where Russian state media dominate what many people hear about what is happening in Ukraine, I think it will take time for people to absorb the consequences of the choices that (Putin) has made.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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