Former CIA counterintelligence chief: Putin can be overthrown

Olson, a 30-year veteran of the US intelligence services, told The Sun that Putin had seriously “miscalculated” his military and leadership and was now at an impasse. “It is almost impossible for him to win the war, without which the President of the Russian Federation will not be able to save power,” he said.

– If Putin remains in power, the war in Ukraine will be long, because he will not give up. But I do not think that Putin will remain in power. “I think it will be removed,” Olson said, adding that he “does not rule out” the assassination of the Russian president.

Military coup in Russia? “The war will end immediately.”

The losses of Russian troops in Ukraine continue to grow and, according to Olson, are ten times greater than the number of victims of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which turned out to be a failure for the army and was the beginning of the collapse. From the USSR. I think there are generals who are deeply dissatisfied with the tragic losses. The Americans said they might become instigators of an uprising against Putin.

In this case, he added, Putin could be considered a “dead man walking” because he would “not survive” a military coup in which other elites might join. “I think there is strong opposition to Putin in the military, intelligence services and oligarchs,” Olson said, adding that once Putin is “eliminated”, the war in Ukraine will end immediately.

Putin may rule until 2036

The 70-year-old Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, who became president in 2000, has ruled Russia for the longest time since Joseph Stalin, and with constitutional reform, could remain in power until 2036 – about the same as Robert Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe for 38 years. years.

The Kremlin has already begun preparations for the 2024 presidential election, in which Putin would like to win more votes than in previous elections. According to RBK sources, the judges were instructed to provide 70 percent of the attendance and 75 percent of the vote for the leading candidate. In the 2018 elections, the Central Elections Commission scored 76.69 percent. The vote for Putin was carried out with a turnout of 67.54 percent.

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