According to a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official, Russian President Vladimir Putin might face serious internal challenges and be in danger of being killed or removed by a member of his close circle.
In response to his actions in Ukraine, top advisers may threaten Putin, according to Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA officer who was formerly stationed in Moscow.
Hoffman, according to the source, singled out Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the Kremlin security council, and Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service, as possible dangers.
And meanwhile, Ronald Marks, a senior member at the Atlantic Council think tank and a former CIA official, told the publication that Putin may still be secure if the operatives guarding him stay obedient.
Marks contrasted Putin with past deposed Russian presidents, saying they either pass away in office or lose their positions of authority.
Putin might wind up in a sanitarium and be removed from power by 2023, according to Sir Richard Dearlove, a former head of British intelligence, who made the same prediction in May.
Putin was the target of an assassination attempt, according to a Ukrainian intelligence officer in the same month. Western authorities disputed the assertion, stating that an assassination attempt would be extremely difficult due to the tightly regulated atmosphere around Putin.
Reports in April suggested that Putin had cleansed his closest group. Similar purges reportedly took place among top Russian military officials as well as national guardsmen in Putin’s private army.
