Over four months have passed since Vladimir Putin decided to launch his imperialistic invasion of Ukraine, and the conflict doesn’t appear to be coming to an end anytime soon. Nor does Putin’s Botox supply, although it must be noted that there are some truly wild conspiracy theories out there about how the Russian president could have recently used a body double in Iran (and it looks like he simply laid off the Botox a bit, the better to awkwardly fidget). Yet rumors persist that Putin’s health is ailing, so it stands to reason (even if he wasn’t a global semi-pariah) that people would be talking about successors.
Actually, that talk’s been going on since Putin launched his dismal war in Ukraine. His inner circle reportedly grew concerned and started maneuvering about how to install a successor with the reported understanding “that in the fairly foreseeable future he will not run the country.” Now, intelligence leaders are starting to really name names, and that includes word by ex-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove, who appeared on the One Decision podcast to do just that. Via Business Insider:
Sir Richard Dearlove, who served as head of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service from 1999 to 2004, asserted this week that the most likely heir candidate is Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council and a longtime Putin ally known to be one of exceedingly few officials to have the president’s trust.
“I’m almost certain it would Patrushev,” Dearlove said on a Thursday episode of the podcast “One Decision,” which he co-hosts, during a discussion about the ongoing impacts of Putin’s war in Ukraine, more than five months after Russian forces invaded.
It’s worth noting that Putin’s inner circle hasn’t articulated as much. In fact, they’re outwardly saying that Putin’s health is great, and maybe they’ll even trot him out on horseback one of these days to prove that he’s still got it. What “it” might be, only time will tell.
(Via One Decision & Business Insider)