Moscow: It is evident that Russian President Vladimir Putin is going through a tricky phase at the moment with many people calling for his dismissal from the throne. His critics have questioned him over his decision to invade Ukraine and some reports suggest that the Russian President is isolated.
According to reports, around 1,000 members of his personal staff had been replaced by Putin back in February amid fears that he might be poisoned to death. However, it is unclear as to whether Putin took this decision before or after his sanctioning of a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Citing a source who works in a Russian ministry, Daily Beast reported that sacked employees included cooks, launderers, bodyguards, etc.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian intelligence is of the view that a group of 'influential individuals' in Russia are plotting to poison Vladimir Putin and make it look like an accident and it has been reported that the plotters have even chosen his successor.
The crippling sanctions imposed by the Western bloc on Russia is believed to be one of the primary factors driving the assassination attempt. It is to be noted that the Russian economy has been hit hard by Western sanctions with the value of the Russian ruble plummeting to a historic low and many Russians facing hardship.
Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), is considered to be next-in-line. The chief directorate of Intelligence in Ukraine has said that Bortnikov and some other influential representatives of the Russian elite are considering various options to remove Putin from power and in particular, poisoning, sudden disease, or any other 'coincidence' is not excluded."
It is worth noting that Bortnikov and Putin used to work for the KGB, the Soviet spy agency but it is believed that the two of them were not on the same page over the decision to invade Ukraine, as a result of which, they decided to part ways.
However, Tatiana Stanovaya, the founder of the R.Politik political analysis firm, has another opinion to offer. "There has been no sign of a split" among the ruling elite, news agency AFP mentioned Stanovaya as saying.
"There is a full consensus, albeit possibly with differences in tactics," she said.
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