Putin faces full-scale revolution ‘by late summer’, warns ex-Kremlin insider

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    Vladimir Putin could face a full-scale revolution by "late summer", according to a former supporter who turned against him.

    It follows news of the Wagner Group mercenaries, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, pulling out of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

    There has been bubbling tension between Prigozhin and Putin for months, with the suggestion now being that the former's mercenaries could be used to oust Putin.

    READ MORE: Russia's 'largest ever drone attack' on Kyiv used Iran-made flying killing machines

    Igor Strelkov, ex-defence minister of Donetsk People’s Republic and a former Russian Federal Security Service officer, has claimed that pre-revolutionary rumblings have already begun, and that Prigozhin is acting with Kremlin insiders.

    He reckons this could all be triggered by one serious blow to Russia in the Ukraine war.

    He said on Telegram: "No later than late summer the internal political situation in the country might change beyond recognition

    "Prigozhin has declared war on part of the military and state elite. Naturally he is not alone.

    "He is a member of the ruling mafia, of one of its groupings. And now we are observing how one of the groupings is breaking the current situation.

    "We see the declaration of a coup attempt.

    "Wagner is rushing to move its men back to bases. And its bases are scattered all around European Russia.

    "This allows me to conclude that social turmoil has started."

    Putin's former speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov also reckons a revolution is on the not-too-distant horizon.

    The ex-Kremlin insider thinks it will start on the edge of Putin’s sprawling empire in regions bordering Ukraine, and noted recent incursions from Ukraine into the Belgorod region by anti-Putin elements.

    He said: "It is impossible to exclude the transfer of part of the Russian border territories under the control of the Russian Volunteer Corps [RDK], which is fighting on the side of Ukraine.

    "The mood in Belgorod, Voronezh, Bryansk and other regions located along the border is now most likely much more oppositional than in the country as a whole.

    "The war hit them much harder than the capital, and such an unequal distribution of hardships creates a serious negative potential.

    "I think that local residents will not show any particular resistance to the advancing RDK units."

    He suggested the area of Russia bordering Ukraine could become a "new – free from Putin – Russia".

    Gallyamov added: "I am still far from suggesting that the RDK will storm Moscow, but it is obvious that [this] scenario… will lead to a large-scale political crisis in Russia.

    "The situation may develop in such a way that it will not even be necessary to take the Kremlin by storm.

    "A completely demoralised Putin himself will hand over power to a successor, and the regime will soon thereafter [be forgotten]."

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    • Vladimir Putin
    • Russia
    • Russia Ukraine war
    • Ukraine

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