- Medvedchuk, the pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch and friend of Putin for whom Russia has exchanged more than 200 prisoners.
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| Russian President Vladimir Putin accompanied by Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University Rector Yuri Borovikov during a visit to an exhibition at the Novgorod Technical College. |
Expert's prediction if Putin tries to use nuclear weapons: "He will be killed by his allies"
The mobilization of 300,000 Russian reservists for the war in Ukraine, coupled with Putin's insinuations that Russia could use its weapons of mass destruction if its territory were threatened, is seen by some experts and analysts as the reaction of a leader who, either he is lying, or he does not understand the situation. In any case, they rule out that he can fulfill this threat, since before his allies would intervene and kill him.
"This is not a bluff (...). And those who try to blackmail us with the nuclear weapon should know that the compass rose can turn against them," the Russian president warned this week.
For Peter Duncan, professor at the School of Slavic and Eastern European Studies at University College London (UCL), "the bottom line is that Putin is cut off from reality. He simply doesn't understand Russia or what he thinks." people in Russia, nor what people think abroad, which is, in other words, everywhere. And that's why they make mistake after mistake," he told the Express newspaper.
As this expert explains, this is due in part to the fact that Putin's allies and his own security service are afraid of him, which has led the Russian president to be misled about the reality of what is happening on the ground in Ukraine. "People are afraid to tell him the truth. In particular, the FSB - Russian Intelligence Service - is afraid to tell him the truth, so they don't know what's going on," he says.
Despite fears among the Russian president's inner circle, Duncan believes his allies would intervene before Putin hits the nuclear button and could even kill him.
"I still believe that if Putin were to start using nuclear weapons, or if he ordered Shoigu (Defense Minister) and Gerasimov (Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces) to use nuclear weapons, not to deploy them, but to use them in somewhere in Ukraine, I think it's very likely that [they] refused and then had to go against Putin and kill him because they would be disobeying an order," Duncan said.
In this scenario, the expert continues, "they would have to get people from the FSB to help them kill Putin," he concludes.
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