Some analysts are speculating that if Russian President Vladimir Putin dies then the war in Ukraine will come to an end and peace will be achieved. Others believe that democracy will be achieved in Russia if Putin is killed or ousted, according to a report by the defense and national security website 19FortyFive.
The speculation comes after a failed assassination attempt that saw a drone hit the presidential palace, the Kremlin. While some are suggesting this was a false flag operation to justify Putin’s expansion of his war in Ukraine, Moscow is once again pointing its finger at the United States for the orchestration, according to The Daily Mail.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reportedly said that Ukraine does what it is told, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied the allegations and claimed that Ukraine was not behind the attack. White House national security spokesman John Kirby denied the Kremlin’s claims on MSNBC, saying that the U.S. does not encourage Ukraine to strike outside of its borders.
But there is the possibility that Ukraine is responding in kind after Russia reportedly targeted the country’s leadership in 2022. Reports are also circulating that Putin’s inner circle is trying to oust him. But what happens when Putin does die?
Russia is caught between a hard place and the ground as their belief in the “iron fist” means that a strong leader, an autocrat, is needed to keep Russia afloat. While Putin is experiencing some dissent among the country’s elites, many are reportedly afraid that taking him out would bring about Russia’s collapse.
One rumor going around is that Putin’s mistress, the former gold medalist Alina Kabaeva, who is also the mother of his two children, is seeking to replace Putin’s senior-most female official Valentina Matviyenko as the speaker of the senate in the Federation Council. Others are tossing in former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Nikolai Patrushev, a former KGB officer.
