Vladimir Putin has a “succession plan” that lays out his exit from the Kremlin amid fears he could “die in office”, an expert has claimed.
The Russian election is taking place this weekend as Putin is expected to secure another landslide victory in a vote seen by most as rigged.
The Kremlin has in recent months sought to thwart opposition forces who may challenge Putin.
While Putin’s grip on power is stronger than it has ever been, an expert claims the Russian President has a succession plan as he likely does not want to die in office.
Keir Giles, Russia expert and author of ‘Russia’s War on Everybody’, told Times Radio: “I have no doubt at all that there is a succession plan because Putin possibly doesn’t want to die in office, and if he doesn’t he needs a cast iron guarantee that he is going to survive being out of power.
“We won’t know what it is because as soon as that becomes clear, that itself would weaken Putin’s grip on power.
“For the time being, there is no indication that it is slipping at all. We have seen this crackdown on opposition and political protest that really stepped up as Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine.
“From 2021 we saw Russia move from trying to control the opposition to trying to wipe it out altogether.
“This makes the people standing up against the election by making these protests at polling stations particularly brave because they know the consequences for them personally will be dire.”
Some have poured dye into ballot boxes or set them on fire as a minority of Russians express their anger with Putin’s regime.
Pockets of resistance have emerged after the death of Alexei Navalny, Putin’s most prominent critic who was jailed on “extremism” charges having survived a poisoning in 2020.
The Kremlin said Navalny died after feeling unwell in prison, but his family as well as world leaders have blamed Putin for his death.
Navalny’s team has urged voters to stage a Noon Against Putin protest this weekend, demonstrating outside polling stations to voice their anger at the regime.
Boris Nadezhdin, another prominent Putin opponent who wanted to run in the election in an anti-war campaign, was barred from the vote.
