Putin “will nominate his chosen successor this year rather than risk overthrow” as Russia’s military disaster erodes his popularity, former ally says

Vladimir Putin will nominate his chosen successor this year rather than risk being ousted, as the Russian president’s popularity continues to slide amid a series of military defeats in Ukraine, his former ally has claimed.

Rather than risk the ignominious fate of ousted tyrants such as Muammar Gaddafi, Putin will seek to hand power to an elected heir and retreat to his £1billion Black Sea “palace”, Abbas Gallyamov, Putin’s former speechwriter , said.

The Russian leader will seek to hand over power to a technocratic successor who can negotiate an end to the war with Ukraine and the West and is unlikely to contest the 2024 election, he told the Russian YouTube channel Khodorkovsky Live said.

Gallyamov said the despot would likely appoint a “trusted subordinate” as president, such as Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin or his deputy chief of staff Dmitri Kozak.

Gallyamov said the despot would likely appoint a “trusted subordinate” as president, such as Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin (right), Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin or his deputy chief of staff Dmitri Kozak (left).

Putin will seek to hand power to a technocratic successor – such as Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (pictured) – who can negotiate an end to the war with Ukraine and the West and is unlikely to run in the 2024 elections. he told Khodorkovsky Live YouTube Channel.

Abbas Gallyamov, former Putin speechwriter

Putin’s circle no longer sees him as a “guarantor of stability” and is worried about the rise of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner’s well-armed private army, who until now has been loyal to the Kremlin but could counter what as an elite failure in the war, Gallyamov said.

They fear being slaughtered with Prigozhin’s sledgehammer – the extrajudicial punishment of convicted soldiers from his prison who refuse to fight or try to defect to Ukraine.

One of Prigozhin’s former Wagner mercenaries who defected in the war in Ukraine, Yevgeny Nushin, 55, was beheaded in November and beaten to death with a sledgehammer when he was caught by his former colleagues .

Prigozhin praised the execution of the defector, saying in response to the video of Nuzhin being beaten to death that “a dog gets a dog’s death.”

Since the beginning of Putin’s war, Putin’s allies have included Prigozhin and the Chechen warlordd Ramzan Kadyrov have begun to vie for power and fame, suggesting that they may one day seek to replace him.

Putin has been accused of “slaughtering his own people by the thousands” in an attempt to secure the vital settlement of Soledar in eastern Ukraine.

Putin has seen his popularity plummet after his military suffered a series of devastating battlefield losses.

Gallyamov said: “The device looks at Prigozhin and no longer sees Putin as the guarantee of their stability.

“The whole apparatus looks at Prigozhin with horror and is afraid of him [his forces] will come after them. You are personally afraid of his sledgehammer.”

Putin’s circle no longer sees him as a “guarantor of stability” and is worried about the rise of Yevgeny Prigozhin (pictured), head of Wagner’s well-armed private army, who until now has been loyal to the Kremlin, but against one of the elite turned. It could be a failure in war, Gallyamov said

This comes from a video published on Telegram showing Yevgeny Nuzhin shortly before his brutal extrajudicial assassination by the private military company Putin Wagner

Ukrainian soldiers fire a 120mm mortar at Russian frontline positions near Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on Wednesday.

If Putin wanted to run for another term – he has been president or prime minister since 1999 – he could “really slip and not be elected”.

Gallyamov warned: “He will try to cheat the elections [but it is] charged with revolution. It is too big a risk for the system.”

He is likely to nominate a trusted subordinate for the presidency, such as Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin or Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, or his very loyal deputy chief of staff Dmitri Kozak, Gallyamov said.

“People like that can really win the election,” he said. “Yes, then they have to negotiate with Ukraine, with the West and break the deadlock in the system.”

But “for Putin it is a good option compared to Gaddafi,” he said.

“At least Putin has guarantees of personal safety.”

Under current law, he would be a “senator for life.”

“He gets a chance to end his days peacefully [his] Palace in Gelendzhik,’ said Gallyamov.

Opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, who is now seriously ill and in solitary confinement in a grim Russian prison, has revealed images of the controversial £1 billion Black Sea mansion.

Pictures of the controversial £1bn Black Sea mansion have been revealed by opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, who is now critically ill in solitary confinement in a grim Russian prison

The palace features a vineyard and a “striptease” room known as the “Hookah” with a stage and show bar.

It includes a “16-storey underground complex” that has been compared to a James Bond villain’s hideout.

It has also been described as “a whole anthill in the rock under the house”.

An engineer-turned-whistleblower who is said to have worked on the construction – named only as Viktor – has hailed the palace as a “national treasure”, suggesting that the underground passages buried in the rock are more sophisticated was as dr. no.

The palace designs include on the eighth basement level “a balcony – literally a loggia floating over the sea” built into the cliff from where the owner can enjoy wine tastings from the palace stock, he said.

Apparently spurred on by the revelations, Putin’s friend Arkady Rotenberg unconvincingly claimed that the palace guarded by Kremlin security agents belonged to him and not to Putin.