VLADIMIR PUTIN may be risking an internal Kremlin coup, says an ex-Russian minister.
VLADIMIR Putin could face a Russian coup which could send him ‘to the grave’ as ‘resistance’ is growing, according to Russian ex-minister.
Andrei Kozyrev, who was foreign minister from 1990 to 1996, believes that Putin could soon be ousted with an “armed escort either to the grave or to retirement.”
In an interview with a daily newspaper he said: “Many Russian tsars were killed. Many were dismissed one way or the other.
Andrei Kozyrev was once upon a time the primary diplomat of Former President Boris Yeltzin. He argued that key figures in the kremlin could be plotting Putin’s downfall. He also claimed that Russian forces hindered by resistance from Ukraine Army and the country getting isolated due to sanctions, Putin may pay the price with an armed
He said: “Many Russian tsars were killed. Many were dismissed one way or the other.
“Even in the Soviet Union, there were ways; Stalin was said to have been poisoned, Khrushchev was just escorted out of the Kremlin.
“With Putin, I very much expect there to be resistance growing and discontent growing that will be resolved one way or another.
“I don’t know which way but Russian history is full of unexpected outcomes.
Vladimir Putin may be facing a Kremlin coup (Image: Getty Images )
Andrei Kozyrev served as Foreign Minster under Boris Yeltsin.
Analysts have speculated about Putin’s mental health writing on Twitter earlier this week but Mr Kozyrev argued that there was a “horrific” logic to his decision to invade.
He said: “It’s horrific but it’s not irrational. To understand why the invasion was rational for Putin, we have to step into his shoes.”
From Putin’s perspective there was a need to bring Kyiv back under Kremlin dominance following the pro-EU Maidan movement that ousted Pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych.
Kozyrev told The Times that Putin miscalculated “but that doesn’t make him insane. Simply wrong and immoral.”
There are claims that Joseph Stalin was poisoned in 1953 (Image: Getty Images )
The former Russian MP who now lives in Miami argues that the experience of the Soviet-Afghan war should have been a history lesson to Putin who was a KGB officer at the time.
He said: “It also started with an invasion and looked like the Soviets were winning.
“But after that, the West provided assets like Stinger missiles and then it became evident that the ground war started to fall apart . . . the Soviet Union had to evacuate its forces and was defeated.
“My prediction is the same for Russia now . . . the probably very dramatic outcome, like the Soviet Union, of collapse.”
Nikita Khrushchev was deposed in an internal coup in 1964 (Image: Getty Images )
Andrei Kozyrev does not believe Putin would use nuclear weapons. He said: “He’s just a kind of guy able to be brazen and he has more risk tolerance and that’s the problem with the West.”
News matter cmpiled by Bora.