
Ukrainian intelligence says Russian elite wants to remove Putin from power as soon as possible and restore economic ties with West
An influential group of people is forming between the business elite and Russian politics, who do not support Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime and are planning to kill him, Ukrainian media said, citing sources from Ukraine's main Defense Ministry intelligence agency. It is not yet known whether the information released is true or is part of the propaganda war.
The same sources say part of the political elite chose Alexander Bortnikov, the President of the FSB, the Federal Security Service, as Putin's successor. They write that Bortnikov no longer enjoys Putin's sympathy and the reason for his weakening influence are misjudgments in the fight against Ukraine.
Bortnikov and his department were responsible for analyzing the attitudes of the Ukrainian population and the capacity of the Ukrainian military, he added.
Bortnikov and several other influential members of the Russian elite, according to Ukrainian intelligence quoted by "Ukrainian Pravda", are considering various options for Putin's ouster, whether poisoning, sudden illness, but also other accidents.
As reported, it is possible that these processes could be linked to the recent flow of information about the whereabouts of Chechen soldiers north of Kiev. According to intelligence sources, the leak was intended to weaken Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's influence, but also an attempt to establish cooperation with Ukrainian authorities, bypassing the current leadership of the Russian Federation.