‘Putin won’t survive’: Top spy chief’s prediction as Putin warns West is playing deadly game to maintain ‘global domination’
Ukraine’s head of intelligence has revealed there are “active discussions happening in Russia” to find a replacement for President Vladimir Putin.
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Ukraine’s head of intelligence, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, has revealed there are “active discussions happening in Russia” to find a replacement for Vladimir Putin.
But in a wide-ranging interview with The War Zone, he stopped short of speculating on who might replace the Russian president,
“It’s unlikely that he (Putin) survives it,” Major Gen Budanov said.
“And currently, there’s active discussions happening in Russia about who’d be there to replace him.”
He also offered his views on whether there would be an effort to overthrow Putin?
“Not now, but as soon as Russia suffers defeat, this will happen really fast,” he said. “Then the Russian Federation will change its form.”
Major General Budanov also addressed Putin’s threats about the use of nuclear weapons, and claims out of Moscow that Ukraine was developing a “dirty bomb”.
“First, on the potential usage, the theoretical potential usage of nuclear weapons by Russia against us, theoretically that is possible,” he told The War Zone.
“Because Russia is a terrorist state with a nuclear mace. But that is just a potential possibility. We’re not observing any preparations for a nuclear strike at Ukraine.
“Speaking of lies spread by the Russian Federation that Ukraine allegedly is preparing a dirty bomb, Ukraine has never in its history produced such devices. It has never planned, it’s not planning and it’s not going to plan to do anything like that. Unlike the Russian Federation, who is, as I said before, a terrorist state and they’re likely to do anything.”
PUTIN WARNS WEST IS PLAYING DEADLY GAME
Russia has claimed that 82,000 emergency conscripts are already fighting in Ukraine.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on national TV that the country had hit its target of 300,000 new recruits, with another 218,000 troops being put through their paces in barracks.
According to Britain’s Ministry of Defence, which is closely monitoring the situation, the green recruits are being launched into the front lines to protect better trained soldiers.
“In the last six weeks there has been a clear move from Russian ground forces to transition to a long-term, defensive posture on most areas of the front line in Ukraine,” it tweeted.
“This is likely due to a more realistic assessment that the severely undermanned, poorly trained force in Ukraine is currently only capable of defensive operations.”
The huge new Russian recruitment drive commenced only a few weeks ago.
It’s part of a desperate bid to hold ground after local forces made major gains in the east and south. The Russian military is now preparing to battle advancing Ukrainian forces over the occupied city of Kherson, which is home to 288,000 people and was one of the first to fall.
The BBC reports that at least 70,000 civilians have been relocated.
Huge parts of the embattled country are experiencing blackouts, with up to four million people left in the dark as the brutal winter approaches following Russia’s latest bombing campaign.
As much as 40 per cent of the country’s power grid has been damaged or destroyed.
“The Russian government and the Russian military are knowingly and systematically plunging millions into cold and darkness, weaponising energy in an attempt to crush the courage and strength of the Ukrainian people,” said Neil Bush, UK Ambassador to the OSCE.
RUSSIA DEFENDING ‘RIGHT TO EXIST’
The announcement of extra boots on the ground came as Vladimir Putin said Russia is trying to “defend its right to exist” in the face of Western efforts to “destroy” his country.
“Russia is not challenging the elites of the West, Russia is just trying to defend its right to exist,” the president said at an annual speech at Russian think tank Valdai Club.
He accused the West of “playing a deadly, dirty and dangerous” game trying to “destroy (Russia), wipe if off the face of the political map.”
“Ahead is probably the most dangerous, unpredictable and at the same time important decade since the end of the Second World War,” Mr Putin said, adding that the situation is “to a certain extent revolutionary”.
The speech came after Russian parliament passed a law allowing ex-convicts to be mobilised into the army and other measures to prop up Moscow’s troops in Ukraine.
Last month, Mr Putin announced the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of reservists in the country to boost his Ukraine military campaign.
He said Ukraine was being used by the United States and its allies in an effort to clutch onto its domination as the global hegemony.
“What’s happening in Ukraine in particular, these are not changes that are currently under way or are under way since the start of the special military operation,” Mr Putin said.
“These changes have been happening for many years now. Some have been paying attention … These are tectonic shifts of the whole global order.”
Ukraine, he added, is the earthquake that happens after years of tectonic plates shifting slowly over years.
“This is what happens here. First, an accumulation of tensions and then an earthquake,” he said.
“These tensions used to happen in the past. New centres of powers are emerging – I’m not the only one to say that.”
It comes as China said it is willing to deepen relations with Russia, in it’s first official comments on Moscow since President Xi Jinping secured a third term of power.
Meanwhile, the US is considering deploying nuclear weapons to allies in the Indo-Pacific over the China threat.
JOE BIDEN REJECTS PUTIN MEETING
President Joe Biden has “no intention” to meet with Vladimir Putin next month while attending the G20 summit, the White House said Thursday.
“He has no intention to sit down with Vladimir Putin and that’s where we are today,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Mr Biden has previously said he has no plans to meet with Mr Putin at the summit being held in Bali, Indonesia. It is not confirmed yet whether Mr Putin will attend.
PUTIN CALLS FOR ‘DIRTY BOMB’ INSPECTION
Russian President Vladimir Putin said a mission of the UN’s atomic agency should inspect Ukraine’s nuclear sites “as fast as possible”, reiterating Moscow’s claims Kyiv is preparing to use a “dirty bomb”.
“They say the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wants to come and check Ukraine’s nuclear facilities. We are in favour. And it should be done as fast as possible,” Putin told members of the annual Valdai Discussion Club.
The Russian president added that Kyiv is “doing everything to cover up traces of this preparation”.
A dirty bomb is a conventional bomb laced with radioactive, biological or chemical materials which are spread in an explosion.
Russia has accused Ukraine of preparing such a “dirty bomb” against Moscow’s troops.
“I gave (Defence Minster Sergei) Shoigu the order to call all of his colleagues and inform them” of the plan, Putin said.
Over the past week, Shoigu repeated the allegations in calls with numerous counterparts including from France, the US, the UK, China and India.
Putin said Thursday using nuclear weapons in Ukraine would “make no sense at all to us — either in political or military terms”.
He said Ukraine and the West accused Russia of military escalation to “influence neutral countries and tell them: look at Russia! Don’t co-operate!”
– With AFP
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