James Olson, the former head of the CIA’s counterintelligence division, says Russian President Vladimir Putin may be a “walking corpse” regarding his political future as Russia’s leader, Insider reports.

“[Războiul] this is not good at all. I think that Putin is now in a situation where he has no chance to win,” he said in an interview with The Sun journalists.

He also talked about the dilemma facing the Moscow elites.

“If Putin stays in power, there will be a long war because he won’t be beaten, but I don’t think Putin will stay in power. I think he will be removed from power,” said a former US official who spent more than 30 years at the CIA.

Contrary to the fears of other analysts, Olson believes that Putin’s disappearance from the Kremlin will lead to an end to the war, as the Russian military suffers huge losses and the oligarchs are deeply unhappy with the way things are going on the economic front.

He states that the generals in Moscow may be the ones who could stage a revolt against the Kremlin leader. “And if they do, I see Putin as a walking corpse. They wouldn’t have survived something like that,” says Olson.

The ex-head of American counterintelligence also says that he does not rule out even the most dramatic option of removing the Kremlin leader from power.

“I think that Putin will be eliminated. I wouldn’t rule out killing him,” says Olson

Russian elites are increasingly dissatisfied with the course of the war

Olson’s comments came after an audio recording of an alleged phone conversation between Russian music producer Joseph Prigozhin and billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov rocked Russia last month, with both scathingly criticizing him as a Kremlin leader.

“Him [Putin] he doesn’t care about anything. And he doesn’t care about people. He is Satan. Coward,” Akhmedov allegedly said about Putin, adding that “he poisoned us all. Everyone and everything. The whole country. The whole population, to hell with it.”

The billionaire would also tell Joseph Prigozhin, who is not related to Wagner’s head of mercenaries, that “the president will bear full responsibility” and “bear responsibility” for the disaster caused by the war he started.

Prigogine admitted that some parts of the recording were authentic, but said that others were forged and that there was a “symbiosis” between his words and the computer’s speech.

The audio recording was made just a day after The Guardian published a major report that members of Russia’s cultural and political elite turned gloomy when Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, realized at a party in December that the Kremlin’s war with the West will be the only one. it will take “a very, very long time” and “things will get a lot more complicated.”

British journalists were informed about the incident by some of the guests invited to the party, as many of those present privately declared that they were against the war in Ukraine.

Speculation about the future of Putin as the leader of Russia

The public appearance of this discontent among Russian elites came after Reuters reported in mid-February, citing a Western official on condition of anonymity, that Vladimir Putin’s tenure in power had become less secure.

“People are talking about succession in a way they didn’t a year ago. But what is missing in a place like Russia is a clear path to change,” said the official in charge.

A senior Russian source also told the news agency that Putin’s hopes of improving his reputation had not been fulfilled.

“In the future, it will be even more difficult and expensive for both Ukraine and Russia,” said the source, who wished to remain anonymous.

“Economic losses of this magnitude are not worth a few conquered territories,” the source said, adding that he believed many members of the Russian elite shared his view, but that if they said so publicly, they would be swiftly punished.

Last October, Reuters reported, citing several sources well-informed about the situation, that at the time Vladimir Putin was holding on to power in Russia despite military setbacks in Ukraine, failed mobilization and internal political infighting.

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