EKO HOT BLOG reports that Russian President, Vladimir Putin’s reign of power and destruction in Russia could be brought to a thunderous end from within Moscow over his disastrous war plan in Ukraine, two veteran army bosses have warned.
Russia has suffered a number of damaging losses over recent weeks and coupled with heroic counter-offensive operations from Ukraine forces pushing opposition troops backwards, Putin’s war strategy is coming under serious scrutiny.
Putin has also been hit by claims Russia is quickly running out of weapons during the war, while his botched partial mobilisation plan saw thousands of Russians attempt to flee the country.
Colonel Richard Kemp, a retired British Army officer who served for nearly 30 years, told Express.co.uk: “There are definitely rumblings among the political elites in Moscow and dissent among some of his close military allies.
“They and politicians in Russia are making very unusual public dissent. It is very possible some of the political elites in Moscow might be planning to get rid of Putin and that is a very distinct possibility.
“You can’t say it will happen and I know it’s not easy, but I think it is certainly a likelihood.
“I don’t think Putin trusts his generals much anymore and that’s why they have finally found Sergei Surovikin, whose two redeeming qualities seem to be brutality and loyalty.
“You can’t conceal this from the general population forever – the number of casualties, the fact this is going to continue, the impact of sanctions.
“There is a large percentage of the population that think this is great and were cheering the recent missile strikes on Ukraine, but I’m under no illusion there is going to be a massive uprising in Russia, and I don’t think Putin can count on unbridled support any longer.”
Colonel Kemp believes a number of Putin’s biggest global allies are also now starting to lose faith in him, something that will quickly escalate into a “big problem”.
Last month, Putin acknowledged China’s “concern” over the war in Ukraine, in what was his first face-to-face talks with President Xi Jinping since the Russian invasion began nearly eight months ago.
Around the same time, Turkey also issued a stark warning to Russia after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered Putin to return all invaded land – including Crimea – to Ukraine.
Colonel Kemp warned growing discontent among Putin’s global allies will only intensify the problems he will be experiencing from within Moscow.
He concluded: “Putin’s global allies and partners are starting to lose confidence and faith in his war plan, and that will become a very big problem for him.
“For the first time, we have seen criticism and uncertainty from the likes of China, India and Turkey – three countries he really needs to have on his side to an extent.
“We have seen dissent from the leaders of each of those counties over the past few weeks, as well as very important allies such as Kazakhstan – a former Soviet state which has always been very close to Russia is now distancing itself from Russia.
“We are also seeing a very similar thing by Azerbaijan and Armenia, with discontent coming from them. If that discontent among the allies continues, that will lead into Putin’s problems in Moscow.
“What that signifies is he is achieving the opposite of what he was trying to achieve, which is to re-establish this so-called Russian empire, bringing the former Soviet states back into the sphere, including Ukraine, and this is having the opposite effect of that.
“There are many of the elites in Moscow who want the same thing as he does but see that he isn’t achieving it.”
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