A group of unnamed Russian elites are reportedly planning to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a Sunday Facebook post from the Chief Directorate of Intelligence for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
“Poisoning, sudden illness, accident — Russia’s elite is considering removing Putin,” the post said, according to a translation.
“A group of influential people in opposition to Vladimir Putin is being formed among the Russian business and political elite,” it continued. “Their goal is to remove Putin from power as soon as possible and restore economic ties with the West that were destroyed by the war in Ukraine.”
The post claimed that the group of Russian elites is hoping to install Alexander Bortnikov, the Russian director of the Federal Security Service and a member of Putin’s inner circle, as Putin’s replacement. The post noted that Bortnikov has recently “fallen out of favor” with Putin after Putin blamed him for “fatal miscalculations” in the invasion of Ukraine.
“Bortnikov and his department were responsible for analyzing the mood of the population of Ukraine and the capacity of the Ukrainian army,” the post said. “A certain part of the Russian political elite of the Russian Federation considers as the successor of Putin – the director of FSB Alexander Bortnikov. It is noteworthy that Bortnikov has recently fallen out of favor with the Russian dictator. The official reason for the disgrace of the head of the FSB – fatal miscalculations in the war against Ukraine.”
“It was Bortnikov and his department who were responsible for analyzing the mood of the Ukrainian population and the capacity of the Ukrainian army. It is known that Bortnikov and some other influential members of the Russian elite are considering various options for removing Putin from power. In particular, poisoning, sudden illness, or other ‘accident’ is not excluded,” the post continued.
“It is possible that these processes are connected with the recent ‘downpour’ of the location of Chechen units in the north of Kyiv. The information came from the Russian side. Probably, this is how the FSB leadership is trying to weaken Kadyrov’s influence. It may also be an attempt to establish cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities in advance, bypassing the current leadership of the Russian Federation,” the post added.
The news comes after reports that Putin has begun cracking down on perceived disloyalty as his country struggles in its invasion Ukraine. According to Christo Grozev, CEO of the investigative journalism group Bellingcat, Russian General Roman Gavrilov, of Rosgvardia, the internal military force of the Russian Federation, was detained last week by Russia’s security and counterintelligence agency, Federal Security Service (FSB).
“Three independent sources report that the deputy chief of Russia’s Rosgvardia (a unit of RU’s interior army which has had tremendous losses in Ukraine), Gen. Roman Gavrilov has been detained by FSB. Gavrilov had also previously worked in FSO, Putin’s security service,” Grozev wrote on Twitter. “The reason for the detention is unclear: per one source he was detained by FSB’s military counter-intelligence department over ‘leaks of military info that led to loss of life’, while two others say it was ‘wasteful squandering of fuel’, ahem.”
“While it’s hard to guess what exactly the purge/reshuffling at the top of the siloviks will result in, one thing is clear: it’s doubtless that Putin recognizes the deep s**t this operation is in. I.e. it’s so bad that he changes horses in midstream – a big no-no during war,” Grozev added.
