According to Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, an influential opposition to Putin is emerging in Russia's political and business elite. They are seeking to oust him from power as soon as possible and restore economic ties with the West that have been ruined due to the war with Ukraine.
"Some Russia's business elite consider Alexandre Bortnikov, Director of Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, to be Putin's successor. Most notably, Bortnikov fell out of favor with the Russian dictator. The official cause - fatal miscalculations in the war against Ukraine", - intelligence officers say.
The Federal Security Service was responsible for analyzing the population's sentiments and military capability.
"We know that Bortnikov and some other representatives of the Russian elite consider different options on how to oust Putin from power. They are poisoning, sudden illness, or other mishaps. The recent information leak on Chechen units' disposition north of Kyiv may have something to do with this fact", - Ministry of Defense of Ukraine added.
It is also noted that this information is received from the Russian side. Intelligence officers assumed that the top management of the Federal Service Security tried to weaken the power of Chechen leader Kadyrov. It can also be an attempt to look for synergies with the Ukrainian government bypassing the current Russian one.