With the level of government imposed security in Russia -- I don't see any plan to "remove him" as anything more than wishful thinking by the West. Putin is driving Russia 'into the ground' and Russian elites must be convinced to 'remove' him: former NATO ambassador https://www.rawstory.com/russia-invasion-of-ukraine-2657011566/
It is doubtful that any Putin replacement is coming -- no matter how much damage he does to Russia. Kremlin Insiders Alarmed Over Growing Toll of Putin’s War in Ukraine Some in the elite fear the invasion was a catastrophic mistake — but say the Russian president won't relent and is in no danger of losing power. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...e-has-russian-elites-fearing-global-isolation Almost eight weeks after Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine, with military losses mounting and Russia facing unprecedented international isolation, a small but growing number of senior Kremlin insiders are quietly questioning his decision to go to war. The ranks of the critics at the pinnacle of power remain limited, spread across high-level posts in government and state-run business. They believe the invasion was a catastrophic mistake that will set the country back for years, according to ten people with direct knowledge of the situation. All spoke on condition of anonymity, too fearful of retribution to comment publicly. So far, these people see no chance the Russian president will change course and no prospect of any challenge to him at home. More and more reliant on a narrowing circle of hardline advisers, Putin has dismissed attempts by other officials to warn him of the crippling economic and political cost, they said. Some said they increasingly share the fear voiced by U.S. intelligence officials that Putin could turn to a limited use of nuclear weapons if faced with failure in a campaign he views as his historic mission. To be sure, support for Putin’s war remains deep across much of Russia’s elite, with many insiders embracing in public and in private the Kremlin’s narrative that conflict with the West is inevitable and that the economy will adapt to the sweeping sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies. And public backing remains strong as the initial shock and disruption from sanctions has given way to a kind of surreal stability in Russia. Still, more and more top insiders have come to believe that Putin’s commitment to continue the invasion will doom Russia to years of isolation and heightened tension that will leave its economy crippled, its security compromised and its global influence gutted. A few business tycoons have made veiled statements questioning the Kremlin’s strategy, but many powerful players are too fearful of the widening crackdown on dissent to voice their concerns in public. The skeptics were surprised by the speed and breadth of the response by the U.S. and its allies, with sanctions freezing half of the central bank’s $640 billion in reserves and foreign companies ditching decades of investment to shut down operations almost overnight, as well as the steadily expanding military support for Kyiv that’s helping its forces to blunt the Russian advance. Senior officials have tried to explain to the president that the economic impact of the sanctions will be devastating, erasing the two decades of growth and higher living standards that Putin had delivered during his rule, according to people familiar with the situation. Putin brushed off the warnings, saying that while Russia would pay a huge cost, the West had left him no alternative but to wage war, the people said. Publicly, Putin says the “economic Blitzkrieg” has failed and the economy will adapt. The president remains confident that the public is behind him, with Russians ready to endure years of sacrifice for his vision of national greatness, they said. With the help of tough capital controls, the ruble has recovered most of its initial losses and while inflation has spiked, economic disruption remains relatively limited so far. Putin is determined to push on with the fight, even if the Kremlin has had to reduce its ambitions from a quick, sweeping takeover of much of the country to a grueling battle for the Donbas region in the east. Settling for less would leave Russia hopelessly vulnerable and weak in the face of the threat seen from the U.S. and its allies, according to this view. In the weeks since the invasion started, Putin’s circle of advisers and contacts has narrowed even further from the limited group of hardliners he’d regularly consulted before, according to two people. The decision to invade was made by Putin and just a handful of hawks including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov, and Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, these people said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment for this article. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov didn’t give a direct answer to repeated questions about whether Russia might use nuclear weapons in Ukraine in an interview released Tuesday. The critics see no sign that Putin is yet ready to consider cutting short the invasion given the losses or making the serious concessions needed to reach a cease-fire. Given his total domination of the political system, alternative views take root only in private. Limited information contributed to the Kremlin’s miscalculation in the early days of the offensive, betting on broader support among Ukrainian troops and officials, as well as quicker military progress, the people with knowledge of the matter said. The Russian leader also underestimated his Ukrainian counterpart, initially perceiving him as weak. Roman Abramovich, the billionaire who has helped broker the so-far-unsuccessful peace talks, had to disabuse Putin of his conviction that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a former comedy actor, would flee the country once the invasion began, according to people familiar with the conversations. Inside the main successor to the KGB, the Federal Security Service, frustration with the failure of the invasion so far is growing, according to Andrei Soldatov, an expert on the Russian security services. Others there had expected the fighting would last no more than a few weeks, according to people familiar with the situation. Broke Oligarch Says Sanctioned Billionaires Have No Sway Over Putin Only one senior official has so far broken publicly with the Kremlin over the invasion: Anatoly Chubais, the unpopular architect of the 1990s privatizations and the Kremlin’s climate envoy. He left the country and Putin removed him from his post. Others who sought to quit — including central bank chief Elvira Nabiullina — were told they had to stay on to help manage the economic fallout, according to people familiar with the situation. Some lower-profile officials asked to be transferred to jobs not related to policy making, the people said. Senior officials have denounced those who left the country as “traitors.” Among business tycoons, many of whom saw yachts, properties and other holdings seized under sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies, a few have been critical of the war — though without mentioning Putin. Metals tycoon Oleg Deripaska called the war “insanity” in late March, saying it could have ended “three weeks ago through reasonable negotiation.” He warned fighting could continue for “several more years.” Some in the elite have pushed for an even harder line. After Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov defended a prominent TV host who had left the country in the days after the invasion, Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov — whose troops are fighting in Ukraine — blasted him for insufficient patriotism. “Putin has built his regime mainly on stoking public support, which has given him the means to control the elite,” said Tatiana Stanovaya of political consultant R.Politik. “There’s no room for disagreement or discussion, everyone must just get on with it and implement the president’s orders and as long as Putin keeps the situation under control, people will follow him.”
I would not rush to Vegas to place best on this outcome. Putin is better entrenched in Russia than many outsiders believe. 'Putin will be gone by 2023': Ex MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove says the Russian president will be sent to a sanatorium to receive medical treatment amid claims he is losing his grip on power due to his ailing health Putin to be moved into a sanatorium and out of power by 2023: Ex-MI6 boss Richard Dearlove, who was 'C' of MI6 until 2004 made the prediction on podcast Putin is rumoured to be struggling with throat cancer and Parkinson's It's thought his illnesses and Covid isolation have undermined his judgement as leader of Russia and his decision to invade Ukraine https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...f-says-Russian-president-sent-sanatorium.html Warmongering Russian president Vladimir Putin will be shipped off to a sanatorium by the end of the year, a former MI6 chief predicts. With persistent rumours of serious ill health for the Russian strongman, one method of 'moving things on' without need for a violent coup would be to place him in a long term hospital for the incurably unwell, suggested Richard Dearlove. The various Russian systems of governance over the centuries have always been autocratic and have never been designed with transitions of power in mind. But now, with Russia facing military humiliation and economic catastrophe, and led by a leader who is rumoured to be afflicted with a variety of life-threatening diseases, thoughts are turning inwardly in the Kremlin as to how to replace the man in power. These are the thoughts of Dearlove, who was speaking on the One Decision podcast which he co-hosts. 'I think he'll be gone by 2023 - but probably into the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as the leader of Russia.' 'I'm not saying he won't emerge from the sanatorium, but he won't emerge as the leader of Russia any longer. 'That's a way to sort of move things on without a coup,' he concluded. In April it was reported that Putin was suffering from thyroid cancer and was followed 24 hours a day by a specialist doctor. The discovery, by investigative media Project (or Proekt) media - blocked in Russia and now functioning from abroad - backs recent theories that Putin declared war when he was suffering medical problems hidden from the Russian people. One version is that he has been treated with steroids, leading to a bloated look around the face and neck. And the claim was supported by Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, who revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has had cancer and that he believed he had overcome it. Dearlove fingered Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the National Security Council and one of Putin's favoured 'siloviki' - security officers - as the likely stand in should Putin be ferreted away into a sanatorium. 'The stand in in this scenario probably becomes permanent,' he added. 'There is no succession plan in the Russian leadership.' He speculated that we are reaching 'the end of this regime in Russia' but 'that doesn't mean it is going to disappear.' 'What I'm saying over the next year, 18 months maybe something, it is going to break apart. 'There is no question that this Ukrainian venture is a catastrophe,' he added. 'The economy is in a mess, the sanctions are really going to start biting over the next three to six months, there will be very high inflation and over and above that, militarily it is a complete fiasco.' On top of reports of throat cancer, there is heavy speculation that Putin may be suffering from Parkinson's, having been filmed meeting with other world leaders shaking hands and feet uncontrollably. A clip of Putin bizarrely twisting his foot and seemingly struggling with jerky leg movements as he met with his counterpart from Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, came out last week, with even the Tajik leader noting the movements. Yesterday, former MI6 spy Christopher Steele claimed Putin is losing his grip on power due to his ailing health and is leaving the Kremlin in 'increasing disarray and chaos' as the war in Ukraine marches on. Steele, who once operated in Russia as an MI6 agent, said Putin, 69, is having to take regular breaks to receive medical treatments and that there was effectively 'no clear political leadership' in Moscow. It has been well noted across the world that Putin has reacted to the Covid pandemic with extreme paranoia, placing world leaders he meets with vast distances away from him and avoiding public situations. Severe ill health would help explain this behaviour, as he would be at acute risk were he to catch Covid. Yet as a result, it has meant that the Russian autocrat has been isolated from contact from human contact and the outside world for the best part of two years, perhaps hindering is decision-making process. Even staunch supporter Stone speculated along these lines, that 'perhaps he lost touch - contact - with people'. It was not clear if Putin was getting the correct intelligence, he admitted, before adding: 'You would think he was not well informed perhaps, about the degree of cooperation he would get from the [ethnic Russians] in Ukraine… 'That would be one factor, that he didn't assess the situation correctly.' It could also be that his 'isolation from normal activity' and no longer meeting people 'face to face' due to health concerns for Putin over Covid may have led to errors, Stone speculated. Most recently, on May 14, Ukraine's military intelligence chief Major General Kyrylo Budanov claimed Putin was 'very sick', before suggesting that plans for a coup were already underway. Mr Steele told LBC this week: 'Our understanding is that there's increasing disarray in the Kremlin and chaos. 'There's no clear political leadership coming from Putin, who is increasingly ill, and in military terms, the structures of command and so on are not functioning as they should.' Understandably, Mr Steele was unable to reveal his source but said he was 'fairly confident' of their claims. 'What we do know is that he's constantly accompanied around the place by a team of doctors,' said Mr Steele. Surgeon Yevgeny Selivanov, of Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital, has flown to the Black Sea resort Sochi - one of Putin's preferred residences - dozens of times in recent years. The respected doctor's thesis - showing his area of medical expertise - was entitled: 'Peculiarities of diagnostics and surgical treatment of elderly and senile patients with thyroid cancer'. Dmitry Peskov, Putin's top spokesperson, has repeatedly denied that there are any issues with the dictator's health. But Mr Steele said many government meetings at the Kremlin are having to be broken up into sections to allow Putin to leave for medical treatments. 'It's certainly having a very serious impact on the governance of Russia at the moment,' he said. But despite his decline, there is little to no chance he will withdraw from Ukraine given the 'political corner he's painted himself into', Mr Steele said. He added: 'It's probably driving his wish to solidify his legacy as he sees it.' Mr Steele said that Putin was 'probably' suffering from Parkinson's but that one cannot know 'the exact details of what his ailment is.' (More at above url including pictures and video)
For those hoping that Putin was ill and would not be around long -- well, this scenario for an illness to incapacitate Putin is not panning out. Putin is ‘too healthy,’ says CIA director following speculation that Russia’s President is sick https://fortune.com/2022/07/21/vlad...-speculation-russia-president-physical-state/ There is no evidence that Vladimir Putin’s health is deteriorating, according to the head of the CIA, despite rumors swirling that the Russian leader is sick or dying. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on Wednesday, CIA Director William Burns was asked if Putin could be described as “unhealthy,” to which he responded: “No.” “There are lots of rumors about Putin’s health and as far as we can tell, he’s entirely too healthy,” he joked. “That’s not a formal intelligence judgment,” he added, as the audience laughed. Putin’s physical condition has come under scrutiny since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, with speculation that the Russian leader is sick with cancer or another serious disease rife due to his “puffy” appearance and apparent inability to stay awake during meetings. Earlier this year, Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper reported that Putin has blood cancer, while footage of him “shaking uncontrollably” led to theories that he suffers from Parkinson’s disease. A spokesperson for the Russian government did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment, but the Kremlin has consistently denied that Putin is unwell. Last month, Putin himself addressed speculation about his physical demise, referencing a famous Mark Twain quote when he told an audience in St. Petersburg: “The rumors about my death were greatly exaggerated.” While Putin may not be in ill health, Burns suggested on Wednesday that in the two decades since he began dealing with Putin, the Russian leader has become more dangerous as his grip on power has tightened and his circle of advisers has narrowed. “I’ve watched him stew in what is a very combustible mix of grievance and ambition and insecurity,” Burns told the Security Forum. “He’s a big believer in control and intimidation and getting even. All of those qualities have hardened over the course of the last decade, [and] his own personal sense of destiny and his appetite for risk [have] grown significantly over that time as well.” Burns added that Putin is convinced that his destiny as Russia’s leader is to restore his country as a great power. “He believes the key to doing that is to re-create a sphere of influence in Russia’s neighborhood, and he does not believe you can do that without controlling Ukraine and its choices,” he explained. “That’s what produced this horrible war.”
Perhaps the CIA Director needs a reminder that it is his job to "influence" Putin's health, not to just report on it.
Putin's illness was mostly a US media narrative they were trying to set in place so Americans would think a win is possible , so we we need to send more money. Same with the stories about how the Ukrainians are winning this war....They are resisting in some places but not winning
Currently neither side is winning. The war is likely to go on for a long time. The real issue is Putin believing he can break the stalemate by attacking other countries. -- effectively doubling down on his failed takeover of Ukraine in his drive to re-unite the Soviet Union. In related news regarding Putin's health.