Russian officials are scrambling to replace potentially dying Russian President Vladimir Putin – with the most likely outcome being a warlord with serious health issues.
Putin is said to have fallen ill on Sunday (October 22) after suffering from a heart attack, according the General SVR Telegram channel. The channel, which claims to post information from a Kremlin insider, often talks about Putin’s supposed terminal conditions and has also sensationally claimed all the dictator's recent public appearances have been carried out by a body double.
However, at some point the country will have to figure out who will take over once Putin does die. And world-renowned defence and security expert Professor Anthony Glees has claimed that two people could be up for the job – Chechen warlord, Ramzan Kadyrov and the son of a former Russian secret service boss, Dimitry Patrushev.
READ MORE: Putin's docs claim 'miracle won't happen' and are 'prepping loved ones for the worst'
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star, Professor Glees said: “If the Grim Reaper is already sharpening his scythe, the obvious candidate is Dimitry Patrushev – a 44-year-old, highly ambitious Minister of Agriculture, but FSB trained. He's also on the board of Gazprom so is closely linked to Putin's oligarch chums.
“Of course there could be a power struggle as there was under communism, and Putin's cronies may try to battle it out, but Patrushev looks like the one who'd win. However, if Putin is ousted, even assassinated by someone with an army behind them, I'd go for the odious Chechen warlord, Ramzan Kadyrov.
A 47-year-old thoroughly nasty piece of work but has 2.6m followers on his Telegram channel.
-
Russia plots to ‘crash-land space rocket mega bomb filled with explosives’
“He's the guy Putin showed himself with to prove he was still in robust good health, however, it was said he had severe nephritis (he's overweight) and was seen in a Moscow hospital the other day. Kadyrov said he was visiting his uncle, a patient there, but who knows.”
Regardless of who takes over, Professor Glees warned that the UK's Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and Foreign Secretary James Cleverly both need to be thinking about it “right now”. And the way forward should be to “build bridges” with Patrushev, as he could be a “man we do business with”.
-
Putin's body double 'running the country' as real Vlad 'too ill to take charge'
Despite the claims, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov was quick to shoot down the rumours earlier this week. Speaking on behalf of Putin – who has not given a public address of any kind for several weeks, Peskov said: “This belongs to the category of absurd information hoaxes that a whole series of media discuss with enviable tenacity – this evokes nothing but a smile.”
Peskov also called the news part of “absurd information hoaxes”. Putin, or a body double acting on his behalf, has been seen in public on a regular basis in recent weeks, but has failed to speak publicly or address any of the health rumours himself. The Kremlin has constantly denied that the leader has any issues, however.
To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
Source: Read Full Article