Vladimir Putin faces losing power as different factions within his regime turn on each other with the strongman leader too weak to stop them, and expert has said.
Yevgenia Albats, who specialises in Russian secret services and politics, says power-brokers in Moscow’s elite are now ‘at each other’s throats’ with Putin struggling to control a ‘lunch of the predators’.
The Russian leader traditionally acted as a mediator between these groups – playing them off against one another while insuring everyone’s safety – but his role is increasingly untenable which puts him in the firing line, Albats added.
Russia is now into the ninth month of a war in Ukraine that Putin believed would be over within days, has seen his powerful military mauled by a smaller adversary, and has almost no hope of achieving any of his pre-war aims.
Vladimir Putin faces losing power in a ‘lunch of the predators’ where power-brokers in his regime turn on each-other and then on him, expert argues
Putin – weakened by the failing war in Ukraine (pictured) – can no longer mediate between the factions in his regime, with ‘war of all against all’ looming
Albats, editor of The New Times magazine who was exiled from Russia in September after being declared a ‘foreign agent’, said: ‘A fight has begun inside the very top echelons of Russian power.
‘We are witnessing the lunch of the predators. What’s happening now is a key manifestation of breakdown within the power [structures].
‘And of the fact that Putin can no longer act as mediator between various interest groups – that the war of all against all has begun….’
She told independent channel TV Rain: ‘I want to hope this will crash this inhumane regime, [which is] killing people in Ukraine and its own mobilised people in Russia.
‘[What we now see] is war at the very top of the power echelon. And Putin can no longer serve as a mediator, which is his key function. Therefore, he [Putin] is next.’
As evidence, she pointed to the increasingly public attempts by warlords Ramzan Kadyrov and Yevgeny Prigozhin – Chechen dictator and founder of the Wagner mercenary group, respectively – to oust defence minister Sergei Shoigu.
Kadyrov and Prigozhin have been hugely critical of the way the war has been run, while suggesting generals should be sent to the front barefoot to fight.
Ramzan Kadyrov (left), Chechen warlord, and Yevgeny Prigozhin (right), the Wagner Group founder, have been leading public criticism of Russia’s generals
Kadyrov and Prigozhin are thought to be trying to oust Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (left, meeting Putin last week) in an attempt to grab more power for themselves
They were particularly critical of Colonel-General Aleksander Lapin, who was in charge of the defence of Lyman before Ukraine routed Russian forces in the region.
Western officials now believe Lapin has ‘probably’ been fired, meaning all of the generals who ordered troops across Ukraine’s border in February have been sacked.
If confirmed, it would be a major coup for Kadyrov and Prigozhin against Shoigu.
Albats also highlighted the legal moves against Putin’s ‘goddaughter’ Ksenia Sobchak, who fled Russia for the West last week.
Sobchak is thought to have run to Lithuania after a business associate was slapped with criminal charges and left facing 15 years in prison, sparking fears for her safety.
Many assumed that Putin would have protected Sobchak, 40, whose father Anatoly, ex-mayor of St Petersburg, was his mentor and former law professor.
The Moscow home of another journalist, uber-loyalist Andrey Karaulov – now in Dubai – was searched, and another Kremlin-supporting editor Modest Kolerov was suddenly fired from his Regnum news agency.
The action appears to show scores being settled without reference to Putin.
A common thread in the Sobchak and Karaulov cases were claims of wrongdoing made by Putin crony Sergey Chemezov, chief executive of the Rostec Corporation defence group.
Sergey Kiriyenko (left) has been touted by Ukraine as a possible successor to Putin having masterminded much of his domestic policy
Nikolai Patrushev (left), the powerful head of the Russian secret service, and his son Dmitry (right) have also been touted as potential successors
Yet Chemezov, who spied for the KGB alongside Putin in East Germany and is now a billionaire, is seen as having upset the Kremlin president over the poor quality of Russian arms in Ukraine by failing to develop Western-quality high technologies.
‘Modest results have been demonstrated in the areas for which Rostec is responsible,’ said Putin in a crushing attack at a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects.
Rostec, a state corporation that owns more than a 1,000 enterprises in the Russian military-industrial complex, has failed to provide high-quality weapons, tanks, night vizors, body armour, and other ammunition, it is claimed.
Chemezov, at 70 the same age as Putin, appears to be lashing out in a bid for survival, some observers claim.
In the past, Putin would have dampened such flames, but now powerbrokers close to the Kremlin are flexing their muscles and he cannot stop them, Albats suggests.
Other observers see a fight for the succession cranking up between key Putin aide Sergey Kiriyenko, 60, a former Russian prime minister who is now deputy chief of staff in the Kremlin, and Dmitry Patrushev, 45, the agriculture minister, and son of secretary of Putin’s security council, Nikolai Patrushev, 71.
