Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Vladimir Putin, Russia, Ukraine
Poppy Bilderbeck
An expert on Russia has suggested President Vladimir Putin could be assassinated by a member of his own family amid the country's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
As Putin's 'special military operation' in Ukraine enters its second month, theories have been arising as to how the invasion may come to an end.
Australian National University visiting fellow and expert in communist and post-communist studies, Dr Leonid Petrov, has debated the possibility of the Kremlin leader being assassinated.
Interestingly, Dr Petrov has revealed that if Putin were to be killed, he predicts it would be by someone extremely close to the president.
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Dr Petrov explained that Putin's status as a 'womanizer' could point to a woman being responsible if an assassination or attempt were to occur.
He told news.com.au: "I believe that if there is an assassination attempt, that might come from a female. Maybe a member of his family, his mistress, his daughter, his ex wife – somebody who knows him and could actually get close to him.
"The possibility (of assassination) is increasing.”
Dr Petrov reflected: "The closest to Putin is the so-called Federal Protective Service, which is deliberately designed to protect the president and his office. They are in close co-operation with the FSB (the successor to the KGB)."
Senior research fellow at UK-based think tank Chatham house, Professor Nikolai Petrov, also explained that the sanctions which have been placed on Russia by the West have caused tension within the country.
"Russian society is no liberal utopia, but it is a divided, largely atomized, and disoriented society which has existed for many years under increasing pressure from an authoritarian regime," he wrote on Chatham House's website.
Professor Petrov said public support for Putin is 'far from unconditional even now' and that he expects it to 'decline rapidly and steadily' as the pressures intensify from the West and Russia becomes even more ostracised from the rest of the world.
Dr Fiona Hill, a former US National Security Council official and Russian expert, echoed similar views.
She reflected: "The way it works with Russian elections, he actually has to put on a convincing show that demonstrates that he’s immensely popular and he’s got the affirmation of all the population.
“Behind the scenes it’s fairly clear that there’s a lot of apathy in the system, that many people support Putin because there’s no one else.”
Professor Petrov's theory on Putin's assassination chimes with the views of an ex-soldier and Associate Fellow of The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), who told LADbible he believes Putin is extremely paranoid of an assassination attempt.
In analysis of a picture of Putin that went viral – of the president sitting around 20ft away from France's President Emmanuel Macron and later, German chancellor Olaf Scholz – the former soldier reflected: "Everybody's saying that's because of Covid and things, but I don't think so, I think it's because of something like Novichok or other forms of close quarter attack. All it would take is someone to take a vial of that stuff out. So he's keeping his distance [...] He's acutely aware of that I'm sure."
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