Russian President Vladimir Putin is being briefed on the matzah in Ukraine by his military commanders (Reuters)
According to reports from Russia, the country's president, Vladimir Putin, is "surrounded by birds of prey and raptors" with one of his closest aides planning a coup and another planning to serve as "the new leader's emissary".
All this comes amid repeated rumors of Putin's cancer-stricken health deteriorating as he continues to bombard Ukraine with missiles.
The latest outlandish claim, reported in the Daily Mirror, is that in two key meetings held last Thursday, Putin was unable to move and had to remain in the same position sitting on a special cushion after undergoing "proctological surgery" - an invasive medical procedure on the buttocks.
According to one of the reports, senior officials in the American intelligence system found evidence that the so-called "Putin's chef", the oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, is trying to stage a coup against his weakened master.
Prigozhin, a 61-year-old businessman, boasts his own private army - the Wagner Group, a military organization sometimes described as a private military company that contracts out projects of a military nature around the world, including involvement in battles in conflict zones.
He has so far recruited tens of thousands of mercenaries and prisoners from prisons to fight in Ukraine - which gives him power in the struggle for control of the Kremlin.
"Putin's chef" is planning a coup?
Prigozhin with the Russian leader (Photo: Reuters)
Some U.S. government officials are "watching Prigozhin carefully, wondering whether, ten months after the war broke out, the source of a potential coup has been revealed." Christo Gruzhev, chief Russia researcher at the investigative journalism organization Bellingcat, said: "We are in uncharted territory Known for Putin.
Prigozhin has 20,000 bloodthirsty, armed and aggressive men.
They say to meL 'We wonder if we should just lay down our arms because we have become cannon fodder and go to Moscow?'
- it's already in their thinking."
Gruzhev predicted that a violent coup led by Prigozhin was a realistic option that would happen in 2023, saying: "This pressure cooker must explode one way or another - either by a bloody revolution or another way." .
More in Walla!
How do you turn a plastic package into a flower pot?
In cooperation with the Tamir Recycling Corporation
Prigozhin recruits prisoners from prisons to fight in Ukraine
However, another report said that the US is about to designate the Wagner group as a "terrorist organization". Its leader Prigozhin could be a direct target for Western special services - unless Putin gives him a top government post that he longs for - although he is not tolerated and Trusted by many senior Kremlin officials.
He has long coveted the position of defense minister, and wants to oust Sergei Shoigu, who is seen as "weak." However, as defense minister he will be in an even stronger position, from which he can more easily stage a coup to oust Putin Some fear that he might even cooperate with the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who also commands a large army loyal to him, and like him is seen as loyal to Putin and supported the war in Ukraine.
One drunk, one weak and one planning a coup?
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Petrushev (Photo: Reuters, Russian Foreign Ministry)
Prigozhin's main rival is the secretary of the Russian Security Council, the National Security Council of the Russian Federation, 71-year-old Nikolai Petrushev, who is currently keeping a low profile, according to former Putin speechwriter-turned-political commentator Abbas Galimov.
According to him, his "disappearance" is due to Petrushev seeking to place his son, the 45-year-old Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Petrushev, as Putin's successor in the position of President.
Another tough figure close to Putin - Deputy Chief of Staff of the Kremlin Sergei Kirinko, a 60-year-old Jew and former Prime Minister of Russia (for 4 months in 1998) - also has ambitions to become president.
At the same time, reports circulated in local media in Russia that an operation called "Noah's Ark" was already underway, designed to find a political asylum for Putin, possibly in South America, if he sees his overthrow as something inevitable, according to Galiamov.
And there are more rumors about Putin
Vladimir Putin fell down the stairs and defecated on himself - his mistress ignored
An ailing Putin was filmed panting and panting heavily in a meeting with actresses posing as the mothers of dead soldiers
Another blow to Putin are claims that his 72-year-old Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov drinks alcohol non-stop because he is depressed and suffering from health problems.
A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told gulagu.net that the senior diplomat close to Putin has reduced his public activities and also comes to work less frequently.
The source said: "One of the versions is that he suffers from health problems. We all think he drinks because he is depressed."
Lavrov is known to have undergone tests for a suspected heart attack during the recent G20 summit held in Bali and was last seen at an online meeting of the Security Council with Putin, but was not heard speaking.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Joint Headquarters of the Russian Armed Forces, in an undisclosed location (Photo: Reuters, Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin)
Remember, many sources claim that Putin himself also has countless medical problems.
The Telegram channel General SVR said that during long meetings, Putin had to remain in one position, leaning on the table, while sitting on a special pillow - after a proctological operation that he underwent last Saturday.
This means he now needs "special underwear that keeps him from leaking fluids and spreading odors" and is only able to sit up for a limited period of time.
The alleged operation also caused him to fall down the stairs in his official residence, according to the report of the Telegram channel, which is believed to be operated by senior government officials, but was denied by the Kremlin.
Putin was recently captured on video from a meeting of the Russian Security Council, but there have been claims that the meeting was previously held and recorded earlier than the Kremlin claims, based on Senate Speaker Valentina Matveyenko, 73, wearing the same clothes at two separate meetings held a day apart, according to the Kremlin. This reinforces the suspicion that the Kremlin prepares videos of Putin in advance that are then broadcast - to make it appear that he is working - on days when he is paralyzed by pain or resting.
Valery Solovy, a former professor at the prestigious Institute of International Relations in Moscow, a school for training spies and diplomats, said the president has canceled appearances Major events he was supposed to participate in, including his traditional year-end speech and a press conference that is held every year because "it is physically very difficult for him to withstand a long and intense public event."
He warned that Putin's apparently deteriorating health is a "direct threat to the lives of millions of people" and added that "the considerations of medical ethics must be limited when it comes to discussing the health of a head of state, and especially a state with nuclear weapons - because the security of the world depends on the leader's ability to assess the situation properly and make the right decisions."
Following rumors that he is hiding from the public, the Kremlin reported that Putin convened his top military commanders this week to discuss new war strategies.
He spoke with General Sergei Surovyki, commander of the Russian forces in Ukraine, and with General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, and said: "I want to hear your proposals for military operations in the short and medium term."
news
not to be missed
Tags
Vladimir Putin
Russia