As war continues to rage in Ukraine, the former head of Britain’s famed intelligence agency MI6, says that Vladimir Putin will be out of power by 2023 and put in permanent care for a “long-term illness!”
Sir Richard Dearlove was head of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6, from 1999 to 2004. He made the predictions about Putin during a recent podcast that he cohosts called “One Decision.”
“I’m really going to stick my neck out. I think he’ll be gone by 2023. But probably into the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as the leader of Russia,” he said, adding that the sanatorium would be a way to move Putin out of power without a coup.
Dearlove’s prediction is in step with other recent reports suggesting Putin is ill and could soon lose power.
Bellingcat’s Christo Grozev, an expert on Russian security, said last week 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 Putin was in “a very bad psychological and physical condition, and he is very sick.” Budanov also said he was “optimistic” Ukraine would prevail and that the war would be “over by the end of the year.”
The former British spy Christopher Steele recently said sources told him Putin is seriously ill and regularly leaves meetings for medical treatment, contributing to “increasing disarray in the Kremlin.” Steele, who led MI6’s Russia desk for years, compiled the infamous Trump-Russia dossier, much of which was discredited.
The state of Putin’s health cannot be confirmed, though his rumored conditions include ailments like dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and blood cancer.
Sir Dearlove also said that, unlike here in the US, there is no “official” succession plan in Russian leadership, but said if Putin did enter a medical facility, the most likely person to step up is Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Security Council of Russia.
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