Russian President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine has been going on since Feb. 24 and has taken the lives of thousands of people, both military personnel and civilians, but what happens if he suddenly falls sick or gets forced out by displeased officials in the middle of the war?
Kremlin insiders have allegedly been privately discussing a list of potential successors to the Russian leader in the case that he is forced out over the invasion of Ukraine or becomes severely ill. The impact of Western sanctions and the cost of waging the months-long war in Ukraine have crippled Russia's economy.
Vladimir Putin's Health Condition
The situation has caused discontent to rise among the Kremlin and Russia's government officials. The independent Russian Meduza, citing sources with ties to the Russian government, said that political elites were now discussing "the future after Putin" more than before in order to bring back stability to the region.
One source said of those inside the Kremlin that it was not that they wanted to overthrow Putin right now or that they were planning a conspiracy. They said that there was an understanding, or rather a wish, that he will not be governing the state in the foreseeable future, as per MSN.
The independent outlet cited another source that said President Putin made many mistakes but could still fix them later on and could come to an agreement with Ukraine. Kremlin officials are allegedly discussing a list of possible successors to the Russian leader in secret.
Meduza noted that officials were floating the idea of bringing in Mayor Sergey Sobyanin of Moscow, National Security Council Deputy Chairman and former President Dmitry Medvedev, and First Deputy Chief of Staff Sergey Kiriyenko.
According to Newsweek, since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began, various claims have appeared in the press and on social media claiming that Putin may have cancer or is otherwise terminally ill. Former UK intelligence officer Christopher Steele claimed in May 2022 that the Russian president broke up meetings of his security council to receive "some kind of medical treatment between those sections."
What Do We Know?
The former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service said that Putin would be "gone by 2023, but probably into the sanatorium." Some of the rumors regarding the Russian president's allegedly deteriorating health conditions have appeared on the social media platform Telegram, which was founded by a Russian entrepreneur and is prone to misinformation due to the anonymous nature of public channels.
The conspiracies include Putin not attending engagements during May 2022 because he was recovering from "cancer surgery." such rumors have become viral worldwide as everyone's attention was drawn to any cracks in Russian leadership.
During an interview on Wednesday, Steele said that their understanding was there has been increasing disarray in the Kremlin. The official is a former MI6 operative who, for several years, worked in Russia, including heading up the spy agency's Russia desk for three years.
He said that there was no clear political leadership coming from Putin, who is believed to be increasingly ill, and in military terms, the structures of command and so on were not functioning as they should or how they were designed to, Business Insider reported.
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