The former head of British intelligence has predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin will leave power next year and will be admitted to a medical center for a prolonged illness.
Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6, from 1999 to 2004, made the predictions about Putin on Wednesday during an episode of the ‘One Decision’ podcast, which he co-hosts.
“I’m really going to take a chance. I think he will be gone by 2023. But probably to the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as the leader of Russia,” he said, adding that the sanatorium would be a way to remove Putin from power without a coup.
Dearlove’s prediction is in tune with other recent reports that suggest Putin is ill and could soon lose power.
Bellingcat’s Christo Grozev, a Russian security expert, said last week that top Kremlin security officials believe the war in Ukraine is “lost” and that Putin is losing his grip on power. Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, told Sky News last week that Putin was in “very bad psychological and physical condition and is very ill.” Budanov also said that he was “optimistic” that Ukraine would prevail and that the war would “be over by the end of the year.”
Former British spy Christopher Steele recently stated that he was told by other sources that Putin is seriously ill and regularly leaves meetings for medical treatment, contributing to “increasing disorder in the Kremlin.” Steele, who headed MI6’s Russia office for years, compiled the infamous Trump-Russia dossier, much of which was discredited.
Putin’s health status cannot be confirmed, although his rumored conditions include ailments such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease and blood cancer.
Dearlove also said that there is no succession plan in the Russian leadership, but said that if Putin entered a medical facility, the person most likely to take over is Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council.
