Former Kremlin Official Say Putin 'Months' from Ouster
When you find yourself able to step back and look at this Russian invasion of Ukraine from 30,000 feet, as they say, the story is a strange one.
This is, after all, one of the most fearsome fighting forces on the planet, (or so we thought), being stymied by a far smaller army bolstered by ordinary citizens using molotov cocktails and poisoned pastries.
Furthermore, the mass desertions and imbecilic incompetence of the Russian army has many wondering what sort of “go for broke” mindset Vladimir Putin must be in. Some have suggested that he’s dying of cancer, while others have wondered if he’s having some adverse reactions to medication.
In either case, there does not appear to be any way in which Putin could hope to see the other side of this conflict still in power, and experts think that it may only take months for his ouster to arrive.
A former Russian deputy energy minister who is now an adviser to opposition leader Alexy Navalny said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s time in office is numbered.
Vladimir Milov told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Saturday that top officials in the Russian government are “personally devastated” by Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.
“For the first time ever, we are moving in a backwards direction. We had a lot of difficulties in the 70s, and the 80s, and the 90s, but we were still somewhat opening to the world and the direction was very different,” Milov said. “Now Russia is being disconnected from global markets, global financial architecture, technology, logistics, and so on.”
As for a timeline?
He told Burnett on Saturday, that Putin still maintains a strong grip on power but most likely not for long.
“He can hang on for some time, but few weeks, months, down the road, many more people inside the system will begin questioning what he’s doing, ordinary Russians will express discontent with deteriorating economic situation, huge losses in the war. This is something Putin never experienced,” Milov said.
And while the idea of Putin being pushed out of power is an undeniably welcome one, who knows what sort of belligerent chaos we’ll have to endure ahead of that moment.
