Ex-FSB Officer Likens Putin To 'Rotten' Fish, Reveals Russian Military Not Happy With Leadership

A former officer of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has likened President Vladimir Putin to a "rotten fish" as Moscow's military death toll surpasses 94,000.

Speaking in a 90-minute video shared on his Telegram channel Sunday, former FSB officer Igor Girkin, who is also a nationalist blogger, added that other Russians at the "mid-level" are also unhappy with Putin's handling of the invasion of Ukraine.

"Fish's head is completely rotten," Girkin said in the video, as translated by The Kyiv Post. "It is not just me... people are not blind and deaf to it all. People at the mid-level there do not even hide their views which, how do I put it, are not fully complimentary about the president or the defense minister."

Girkin's latest comment comes days after he accused the Russian top brass of leaving military troops behind with "no clear strategic goals."

"Simply put, the troops are fighting by inertia, not having the slightest idea of the ultimate strategic goals of the military campaign," he wrote in a Telegram post published Dec. 9. "In most parts of the RF [Russian Federation] Armed Forces, soldiers and officers do not understand: In the name of what, for what, and with what purposes they are fighting."

Girkin previously helped lead the annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014. In November 2022, a Dutch court found Girkin and two other Russian nationals guilty of shooting down Flight MH17 in Ukraine in 2014. The incident cost the lives of 298 passengers and crew. Girkin and the other two men were convicted in absentia and remain at large.

As per estimates from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Russia's military death toll hit 96,760 Monday, including 620 deaths reported over the past day. Most of the deaths were caused by Ukrainian forces. However, the Russian army is also suffering losses from "friendly fire," as per a Facebook post from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Russia has also reportedly lost a total of 2,966 tanks, 5,928 combat armored machines, 1,929 artillery systems, 1,617 UAVs and 4,544 automobile equipment and fuel tanks.