Biden suggests Putin has 'fired' or put his advisers 'under house arrest'

President Joe Biden on Thursday offered a notable assessment of the state of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle of advisers, suggesting the Russian leader has “fired or put under house arrest” some of his confidants.

Biden, after speaking about his moves to lower U.S. energy prices, was asked about how misinformed the Russian leader really is about his military’s performance in Ukraine. The president added that what he was about to say was not with absolute “certainty.”

“There’s a lot of speculation, but he seems to be — I’m not saying this with a certainty — he seems to be self-isolating, and there’s some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers,” Biden said. “But I don’t want to put too much stock in that at this time because we don’t have that much hard evidence.”

The president’s comments followed the release of U.S. and U.K. intelligence reports on Wednesday that indicated Putin’s advisers have lied to him about the performance of Russian forces as his country’s military attack on Ukraine falters.

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield shared the intelligence assessments during Wednesday’s press briefing, saying Putin’s advisers are “too afraid to tell him the truth” about “how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions.” She said it’s becoming clear the decision to provoke war was a “strategic blunder.”