Is Vladimir Putin's clock ticking?
"It's going to happen all of a sudden"
Created: 06/30/2022, 05:02
By: Lukas Zigo
Former CIA employees believe that Putin will be toppled from his inner circle if the Ukraine war turns out to be a defeat.
MOSCOW – Rumors of discontent in Vladimir Putin's inner circle were circulating just before Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine began.
The topic is so hotly debated not least because many analysts see a fall from within as the only plausible way for a change of power in the Kremlin.
According to former CIA operative Daniel Hoffman, this scenario could materialize sooner than many expected.
Hoffman was three times the head of the CIA's Moscow office and a distinguished former CIA official.
On Friday,
The Daily Beast
published an article in which Hoffmann offered his take on Putin's rise to power in Russia amid the turbulent invasion of Ukraine.
Ex-CIA agent: Putin's inner circle could betray him 'all of a sudden'
According to Hoffman, should the war ultimately prove a failure, Putin could meet a quick and abrupt end at the hands of his own inner circle.
"The people who are going to do it will keep it so secret that Putin won't find them and kill them first," the former CIA agent explained.
"It's going to happen all of a sudden.
And he will be dead.”
Vladimir Putin (M), President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev (L), Prime Minister of Russia, and Sergey Shoigu (R), Minister of Defense of Russia, take part in the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
© Pavel Golovkin/dpa
Ronald Marks, a former CIA intelligence operative, also spoke to
The Daily Beast
and was far less clear on the situation.
He explained that Putin had managed to keep a firm grip on his inner circle.
High-ranking Russian officials critical of the invasion or otherwise perceived as a threat to the Russian president were somewhat sidelined.
"He's probably fine as long as the siloviki (members of the elite security services) are on his side," Marks said.
"And he's done a good job of getting rid of those who aren't...".
CIA agent: 'You will beat him (Putin) for this'
Nonetheless, Hoffmann maintained that those closest to Putin will turn against him as soon as they feel the situation in Ukraine has deteriorated sufficiently or when a major war seems inevitable.
"You're going to beat him up for it.
That's what they will do.”
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Once the economic sanctions against the country become too severe to bear, the Russian people are likely to turn wholeheartedly against Putin and the invasion, Marks said.
Russia is currently facing historically strong sanctions from numerous countries in response to its military actions.
"Russians are very sensitive, more than they would like to admit, to internal opinion in Russia," Marks said.
“It is a country that will explode, but it will take a long time.
If there is an explosion, it will have to do with the economy.
When they run out of food, when things get so difficult, people will take to the streets." (lz)