A former MI6 spy has warned that the West must prepare for the “end” of Vladimir Putin’s “era” and his successor is likely to more terrifying.
Christopher Steele who was the chief of the MI6 Russian desk for three years until 2009 has claimed that Putin will be finished one way or another within “a year.”
Steele said that Putin’s 20-year rule will come to an abrupt end as it appears that the Russian leader has no control after the short-lived Wagner rebellion which was spear headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The former MI6 spy suggested that the Russian leader could be assassinated by his own or even by an outside plot.
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He added, that “very credible sources” have been “telling us he’s been ill for some time” and that Putin could die suddenly.
However, an ex-Russian Minister who was the Boris Yeltsin’s leading diplomat has warned it is most likely there could be an internal Kremlin coup which will see Putin escorted “either to the grave or to retirement.”
Steele said that Putin could decide to step down at the next election in March 2024, but warned that most likely outcome for the Russian tyrant would be in a “violent” move to kill or remove him from power by force.
Speaking to Sky News he warned, that in this worst-case scenario “all bets would be off” for the West which would “likely” end in “bloodshed.”
Steel said, “A move is made violently, if necessary, to kill or topple Putin in favour of another securocrat or regime oligarch.
“But [it will be] one who has distanced themselves from the war and is prepared to negotiate on ending it genuinely with the West.”
He said that the frontrunners to take power from Putin could be the “rising star” Aleksey Dyumin, the governor of Tula oblast, the FSB director Alexander Bortnikov or even the oligarch Igor Sechin and former Russian prime minister Viktor Zubkov.
Andrei Kozyrev said that senior figures in the Kremlin could quietly be plotting to oust Putin and could be planning his downfall.
Kozyrev warned that the Russian President could face a coup which will lead to either an “armed escort either to the grave or to retirement.”
Boris Yeltsin’s former leading diplomat said, “Many Russian tsars were killed. Many were dismissed one way or the other.
“Even in the Soviet Union, there were ways; Stalin was said to have been poisoned, Khrushchev was just escorted out of the Kremlin.
“With Putin, I very much expect there to be resistance growing and discontent growing that will be resolved one way or another.
“I don’t know which way, but Russian history is full of unexpected outcomes.”
Kremlin officials have previously savaged Putin over his “clusterf*** invasion” of Ukraine with many calling the war a “mistake” which has caused a serious “political crisis in Russia” which will lead to the dictator’s demise.
