A future for Russia without Vladimir Putin is being discussed at the highest levels of Russian society, it is reported And talks of the President's removal and his potential successor are also taking place.
Sources close to the Kremlin said there is talk of Putin, who launched an invasion of neighbouring Ukraine back in February, being the cause of dissatisfaction among pro-war and anti-war factions. The reports come from Meduza, a Lativian news site, which cites senior business figures and members of the government as being discontented with the war and the resulting sanctions from the West, the Mirror reports.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin, former president Dmitry Medvedev and first deputy head of the presidential administration Sergei Kiriyenko are all favourites, and allies of Putin, to replace the President. The report says that while the discussions do not involve efforts to overthrow Putin "right now", there is a desire, that in a "fairly foreseeable future he will not govern the state".
Meduza reports that one source says everyone in power knows that the only way Putin will depart his premiership is "only if his health deteriorates seriously." Thus, currently "the dissatisfaction of high-ranking officials is not manifested in anything - except for talking with each other".
The report follows the news that Putin survived an attempted assassination shortly after ordering the Ukraine invasion. Major General Kyrylo Budanov, Kyiv’s head of military intelligence, told Ukrainska Pravda that "there were attempts to kill Putin."
He said the attempted hit “completely failed”, but “it really did happen about two months ago”.
On Thursday (May 26) Foreign Secretary Liz Truss accused Vladimir Putin of seeking to “hold the world to ransom” through Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports. The Cabinet minister rejected a demand by the Russian president for the lifting of international sanctions on his country in return for opening a humanitarian corridor to allow shipments to resume through the Black Sea port of Odesa.
Around 22 million tonnes of grain are reportedly stuck in Ukraine – one of the world’s biggest wheat producers – as a result of the Russian naval blockade. Speaking during a visit to Bosnia Herzegovina, Ms Truss said the UK will work with allies to get as much as possible out of the country, amid fears of food shortages in some of the world’s poorest countries.
“It is completely appalling that Putin is trying to hold the world to ransom. He is essentially weaponising hunger and lack of food among the poorest people around the world. We simply cannot allow this to happen,” she said.
“Putin needs to remove the blockade on Ukrainian grain. We will do all with our allies and partners to get the grain out of Ukraine and supply the rest of world. What we cannot have is any lifting of sanctions, any appeasement, which will simply make Putin stronger in the longer term.”
At a joint news conference in Sarajevo with her Bosnian counterpart, Bisera Turkovic, Ms Truss announced a new support package for the western Balkans, aimed at mobilising 100 million US dollars (£80 million) of UK-backed investment in a bid to counter Russian influence in the region.
She said Moscow’s interference in Bosnia Herzegovina threatens a return of the civil war which tore the country apart in the 1990s. “What we are seeing today in this country are signs of Russian interference which risks plunging us back into those dark days. This must be stopped,” she said.
