It’s hard to keep track of the various theories swirling about Vladimir Putin, including whether he’s even still alive. But, assuming that the Kremlin isn’t trying to pull a Weekend at Bernie’s on the world, a former aide who worked closely with Putin believes that the Botox fan’s days as president of Russia are numbered.
As The Daily Beast reports, Abbas Gallyamov — who previously worked as a speechwriter for Putin — believes that the Kremlin’s continued focus on the war with Ukraine is causing such a disconnect with the people of Russia that a military coup is likely imminent.
“The longer the war drags on, the clearer its pointlessness becomes,” Gallyamov wrote in an opinion piece for Mozhem Obyasnit. Basically, the Russian public is losing faith in its leaders — who seem intent on to capturing Kyiv, which fewer and fewer people believe will ever actually happen.
Meanwhile, Wagner’s private army of mercenary soldiers are taking a shellacking, which isn’t giving much hope to the rest of Russia. “[Wagner boss Yevgeny] Prigozhin has completely discredited the regime in the eyes of service members with his rhetoric,” Gallyamov writes — none of which is helping Putin’s carefully curated image as a tough guy.
“As problems pile up in the country and the army that the authorities are unable to solve, Putin is more steadily transforming in people’s eyes from a great strategist to an ordinary, second-rate dictator,” says Gallyamov.
For months, we’ve read about soldiers fighting back against their commanders if not abandoning their posts altogether due to seeing the attack on Ukraine as futile. That, says Gallyamov, is where the motivation to revolt against Putin, the Kremlin, and their deep (and deeply flawed) desire to capture Ukraine could come into play.
“It must be understood that the vast majority of commanders in the army of an authoritarian nation are not staunch supporters of the authorities, but run-of-the-mill opportunists,” Gallyamov says. Meaning that if they see a chance to better their situations and lives — even if it means turning against Putin — you can best believe they’ll take it.
(Via The Daily Beast)