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CIA Director: Putin's Hold on Power Betrays "Significant Weaknesses"

CIA Director: Putin's Hold on Power  Betrays "Significant Weaknesses"

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 8: CIA Director William Burns testifies during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing concerning worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill March 8, 2023 in Washington, DC. The leaders of the intelligence agencies testified on a wide range of issues, including China, Covid-19 origins, and TikTok. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – A social contract that Russian President Vladimir Putin has engineered over the decades to cement his authority may now be showing signs of coming apart, said CIA Director Bill Burns, speaking at a security conference in Aspen, Colorado.

After a near quarter-century in power, recent events have "exposed some of the significant weaknesses in the system that Putin has built," Burns told a forum audience on Thursday, echoing Britain's foreign secretary, James Cleverly, who said that an aborted mutiny last month by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had revealed "cracks" in Putin's government.  

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