Vladimir Putin will die whilst serving his country and the world can expect an assassination, one war expert believes.
The Kremlin tyrant could be left with 'bullets in his back’ while he is still in office, they predict.
Putin’s car was “attacked” in what may have been an attempt on his life amid the Ukraine war, it was claimed in September and in 2012, it was suggested that he had survived five very near misses.
Over the years, the Russian President's health has attracted a great deal of speculation, including claims that he has Parkinson’s and travels around with a thyroid cancer doctor.
But Nate Sibley, a Russian corruption specialist based in Washington, has told Express.co.uk believes that he believes he know how Putin will die.
He said: “One thing we can predict with more certainty is that, unlike so many wealthy Russians, Putin does not plan on retiring peacefully to a mansion on the French Riviera with his mistresses.
"He watched carefully as other former Soviet leaders tried to extricate themselves from authoritarian regimes— and as they failed. What luxuries you can buy with vast wealth has become less important to Putin, over the years, than who and what you can control.
“Others with ambitions of their own might like to see him stripped of power, rotting in a cell, or swinging from a lamppost. Whatever his future holds, it is increasingly unlikely to be a happy ending.”
He added: “Either of old age or with bullets in his back.”
During a 2012 interview with filmmaker Oliver Stone for The Putin Interviews, the dictator detailed how he supposedly cheated death.
Stone said: “Three times President. Five assassination attempts I’m told.
“Not as much as [Fidel] Castro, who I’ve interviewed. I think he must have had 50 but there’s a legitimate five [assassination attempts against Putin] I’ve heard about.”
Putin responded: “Yes, I talked to Castro about that and he said to me: ‘Do you know why I’m still alive?’
“I asked him, ‘Why?’ [Castro said] ‘Because I was always the one to deal with my security personally.’
“I do my job, and the security officers do theirs, and they are still performing quite successfully.”
Anthony Burr, a public relations expert who has lived in both Russia and the UK, fears Putin would never step down.
But stressed that he will only go out on his or mother nature’s terms.
“Putin will be President for as long as he wants to be, or his health allows him," he said.
"I wouldn’t be surprised if he dies on the job. He won’t give up easily and who can possibly oust him? No one. He has contrived to remove any threats to his leadership by any means necessary during the past 23 years.
"His senior Government positions are all filled with cronies from his KGB days and all of the same generation.
"He even cleverly changed the constitution during his time as ‘Prime Minister’ which allowed him to rule indefinitely, making modern-day Russia a true autocracy."
