Putin's Days 'Numbered' as Kremlin Coup Rumors Swirl
The abject failures of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been very ugly and undeniably public, leading many within the global community to suggest that the former world order may be disintegrating before our very eyes.
New reports seem to suggest that Moscow isn’t very well insulated from this sort of talk, either, and recent rumors of a Kremlin coup may be in the works.
Cronies of Vladimir Putin are reportedly plotting a coup against him, while another trusted aide is lying low and preparing to act as kingmaker, according to new reports.
Advertisement - story continues belowIn a further blow to Mad Vlad, there are claims his whisky-loving foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is “drinking because he is depressed” and is suffering “health problems”.
On top of this, there are recurring rumours of the dictator’s poor health, with some believing he may have cancer.
And the person cooking up the scheme? It could be Putin’s personal chef.
One report even claims to Kremlin’s top chef, Yevgeny Progozhin, would be the man to start a coup against Putin.
Advertisement - story continues belowPrigozhin, 61, had a remit much wider than merely serving up grub to the Kremlin elite, and even has his own private army and is thought to have recruited tens of thousands of mercenaries to fight in Ukraine.
“This is uncharted territory for Putin,” said Christo Grozev, the chief Russia investigator for the Bellingcat investigative journalism organisation.
“Prigozhin has 20,000 bloodthirsty, armed and aggressive men…
“They’re telling me, ‘We’re wondering if we should just lay down our arms because we’ve been turned into cannon fodder and go to Moscow?’ That’s in their thought process already.”
Of course, Putin’s tight grip on Russia makes any such plan a dangerous one to attempt to execute, and the public nature of these rumors is likely enough to keep the Russian President on his toes.
