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If Vladimir Putin can no longer lead Russia, he will be replaced by Nikolai Patrushev, who is currently the country’s Security Council secretary, predicts Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, Britain’s intelligence agency. “I was going to say that at this point it will almost certainly be Patrushev,” Dearlove said on an episode of the One Decision podcast that aired on Thursday, August 11. “Whether he will survive politically in the long run is another matter,” he added.
According to the former head of British intelligence, only deteriorating health or a planned removal by a third party could have led to Putin’s resignation. Dirlav doesn’t expect the Kremlin leader to be able to step down to enjoy a “luxurious retirement,” referring to the wealth Putin is estimated to have amassed. “Like many great dictators, I wonder if he will ever enjoy the benefits or the fruits of his ill-gotten gains… He made a terrible mistake regarding Ukraine. The outcome of this is difficult to predict, but it will come to some unpleasant end.“.
Nikolai Patrushev has been close to Putin for decades and was part of the most closed group of the head of the Russian state. Louise Shelley, director of the Center for Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption, also points to him as a potential successor: Patrushev is possible because he is one of the “siloviki” (power structures), “someone who is in Putin’s inner circle now”.
THE PUB • CONTINUE TO READ BELOW
Cancer, vision loss and body tremors. Suspicions are growing that Vladimir Putin is ‘nearing the end’
The state of health of Vladimir Putin has been the subject of several rumorsand there is even a suspicion that the Russian president may be facing some form of cancer.
Despite the Kremlin’s denials, intelligence agencies in several countries say that the life of Russia’s most powerful man may be coming to an end. Suspicion arose in early April when the independent Russian organization Project Media reported that Putin was “permanently” accompanied by Yevgeny Selivanov, a Moscow Central Hospital specialist and one of Russia’s top thyroid doctors. crayfish. . According to the investigation, within a year and a half they met 25 times. Aleksey Shcheglov, a surgeon who studied thyroid cancer diagnostics, is also said to have met with Putin several times. The possibility of blood cancer was also pointed out.
Dirlav points to the second hypothesis for Putin’s departure from power: the intervention of the Russian elite, who, according to Ukrainian intelligence agencies, are trying to remove him from power.
Who is the “Kremlin hawk”, the most influential person (after Putin) and who can become the successor of the current president?
Nikolay Patrushev, also known as the “Kremlin hawk”, is touted as a potential successor to Putin. A close friend and member of his inner circle, he was recruited into the KBG when he was only 24 years old, always sticking close to the head of the Russian state. According to historian and political scientist Valery Soloviev quoted by El Mundo, “they are friends, they think the same way.” In 2017, the Politico newspaper noted his “fiery nationalism, conspiratorial worldview and extensive espionage experience.”
The current Secretary of the Russian Security Council was the Minister of Security of the Republic of Karelia from 1992 to 1994. A year later, he joined the FSB, the federal security service that replaced the KGB, of which Putin was director from July 1998 to 1994. August 1999 When the incumbent left to become Russia’s prime minister, Patrushev took his place.