Diplomat who quit over Ukraine invasion says Putin could face a coup and may be killed if he loses in Ukraine.
Ex-diplomat, Boris Bondarev said decisive defeat would make him weak in the eyes of ordinary Russians and might prompt elites to try and get rid of him.
‘Vladimir is fighting for his life… and may use a nuke to show he is serious,’ Boris said.
‘You provoke [Putin] with all the talk of not provoking him,’ he said. ‘At some point there will be a time when Putin will use something like nuclear weapons just to show he is serious about them.
‘Backing down makes the probability of him using nukes in Ukraine higher.’
Asked how likely it is that Putin could be toppled, he said: ‘I think there are chances Putin could be forced from office.
‘But first he must be regarded by his own people as a loser, as someone who lied and made them fools. ‘They must see him as weak, and that will happen only if he is truly and widely defeated in Ukraine.
‘If his defeat in Ukraine is widely understood, widely known to general population and his elite, may force him to go to sleep and never wake up.’
As for what happens to Russia next, he says the country cannot be left to its own devices otherwise history will simply repeat itself.
He said: ‘[Russia] should be regarded as a very ill society… totalitarianism is disease and Putin is symptom of that disease.
‘Russia must overcome this disease and recover from it. If you have a sick person you don’t leave him be on the street so he dies, you help him to recover. Russia will require help after Putin.
‘You hear people say that Russia… is not our problem, you caused the war so it is your problem. That is understandable, but that is very dangerous notion.
‘If Russia is left to its devices then in 10 or 15 years we may be facing the same problem we are facing today – Russia could end up as a giant North Korea.’
