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A desperate Vladimir Putin will seek to massively boost mobilisation by sending more troops to fight in Ukraine, and impose martial law in many Russian cities, it was forecast today.
Yet the draconian moves could trigger a coup from within the elite even before his ‘poor health’ incapacitates him, says one expert.
And he is now using body doubles who are so like him, it is impossible to tell the difference, it is claimed.
The 70-year-old Kremlin leader – who is believed to be suffering from cancer and possibly other ailments – is actively discussing a new forced enlistment to swell yet further the size of the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.
Putin’s new scheme comes as Russian troops were forced to pull back from the strategic stronghold of Kherson last week as Ukrainian forces reentered to liberate the city.
Vladimir Putin is set to massively boost mobilisation by sending more troops to fight in Ukraine
Putin has already drafted 360,000 on top of his one million strong regular army. The leader is pictured in 2019
Putin’s new scheme comes as Russian troops were forced to pull back from the strategic stronghold of Kherson last week. He is pictured at a Russian security council meeting on November 18
The Russian president has already drafted 360,000 on top of his one million strong regular army, yet the results have remained poor.
But the New Year is likely to see another massive call-up as he raids offices and factories for what critics see as cannon fodder.
One theory is that he will want to persuade Russians they are fighting a ‘popular war’ to protect their country’s existence against a threat from the West.
Putin-watcher Valery Solovey, a former professor at Moscow’s prestigious Institute of International Relations [MGIMO], a training school for spies and diplomats, said: ‘With a high degree of probability, the second stage of mobilisation will be announced after the New Year celebrations…’
It will be ‘more comprehensive than the first.’
Martial law is also set to be imposed more widely than the areas of Ukraine annexed by Putin where it currently applies.
General SVR Telegram channel stated a ‘second wave’ of mobilisation may be imposed ‘simultaneously with the declaration of martial law in Moscow, that is, the second half of January or February.’
While the timing is not agreed, when it happens the borders would be closed to those facing mobilisation ‘including women who fall into this category’, preventing people fleeing to exile.
Putin thinks that by a mass draft Russians will see it as a popular ‘people’s war’, an idea floated by ex-premier Sergei Kiriyenko, 60, his deputy chief of staff, who is seen as a candidate for the future presidency.
Sergei Kiriyenko (left) is Putin’s deputy chief of staff, and is seen as a candidate for the future presidency
Solovey said Putin’s tactics amid huge war losses can trigger a putsch.
‘The main driving force of the coup will not be the opposition, but in the elites,’ he said in a YouTube broadcast.
For Putin ‘the horizon is getting closer, the term of his legal capacity is very limited.
‘He and his entourage know that.
‘He himself knows it…and his entourage might speed up this process, although it doesn’t make sense to them.
‘Still, part of his entourage will start thinking about it as military actions escalate….’
He claimed that Putin’s use of body doubles as stand-ins at events is now so common that ‘when you watch a video or look at a photo, you don’t know whether it’s Vladimir Putin or his double.
‘I’m not kidding.
‘But the double is not necessarily ill with what the Russian president is sick with….’
Professor Valery Solovey (pictured) said Putin’s tactics amid huge war losses can trigger a putsch
Professor Valery Solovey is a former historian at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the notorious Wagner Group [a private army], behaves as if Putin ‘no longer exists’, he said.
He has recruited up to 35,000 jail inmates to fight in Ukraine.
The world was sickened by recent footage of the sledgehammer killing of convicted murderer-turned-Wagner mercenary Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, as punishment for desertion.
Yet there have been dozens of illegal extrajudicial killings of mobilised prisoners who sought to desert or broke other rules, it is claimed.
Prigozhin was quoted as saying: ‘I have special powers from the President [Putin].
‘I don’t give a f*** about anyone, I’ve got to win this f****** war at any cost.’
Solovey forecast some of the elite would seek public support to signal a break with Putin and a bid to oust him – next year.
But such a revolution will initially bring a ‘noticeable worse’ life for Russians, possibly with a committee of security-crats in charge.
Later he predicted life would improve with democracy appearing in Russia.
Both Solovey and General SVR claim Putin is ill with cancer, cancer, Parkinson’s disease and a schizoaffective disorder.
Their claims of Kremlin sources are impossible to verify. Previously they were correct in predicting Putin’s mobilisation drive.
With Ukrainian forces having liberated the strategic stronghold of Kherson, desperation has sunk in for Putin and his Russian forces.
In a significant symbol of Russian power weakening, the first train arrived in Kherson on this morning, since the invasion earlier this year.
As the train left Kyiv station yesterday evening, onlookers applauded as it set off on its journey to Kherson.
Onlookers cheered as the first train pulled into the station on its journey from Kyiv
People wait for the arrival of the first train from Kyiv, holding the Ukrainian flag over the rail bridge
Anastasia kisses her mother Oksana as she arrives from Kyiv to Kherson this morning with the first train after Russia’s military retreat, at the main train station in Kherson, Ukraine
The train departed from Kyiv on Friday evening (pictured) as it prepared for its 11-hour journey to newly liberated Kherson
People in Kyiv take selfies in front of the first train to travel to liberated Kherson
Kherson was the first major city to be taken by Russian forces after the invasion in February and remained under Russian control until November 11.
Kherson residents cheered, applauded, and wept for joy as the train pulled in from its 11-hour journey from Kyiv. Many stood on top of the rail bridge, watching the train arrive, carrying some 200 passengers.
This will be the start of regular journeys between the two cities.
Jubilant onlookers, some draped in the Ukrainian flag, then embraced loved ones as they stepped off the train.
Rock music then blasted out through speakers on the platform as a Ukrainian musician sung to the crowd.
Electricity and water were restored to the train station after Russian troops had destroyed all critical infrastructure to the city.
Humanitarian aid has also arrived in the region this week to deliver food, water, hygiene kits and shelter materials to residents.
The train journey is not only significant in reconnecting Kherson, but also for Ukraine’s hopes of winning the warÂ
Oksana Shevluga (left) kisses her daughter Nastia (right) who arrived on the first train to arrive back to Kherson Railway station this morning
Vladimir (red jacket) is hugged by a family friend after he arrived in Kherson
Kherson residents cheered, applauded, and wept for joy as the train pulled in from its 11-hour journey from Kyiv. Many stood on top of the rail bridge, watching the train arrive, carrying some 200 passengers
Mykola Desiatnikov and Oksana Shevluga wait on the platform to be reunited with loved ones
Mykola Desiatnikov hugs his wife Liudmyla, who arrived on the train
Ukrainian musician Oleksandr Yarmak sings to a crowd of people on the train platform
Local residents hold a Ukrainian flag on the station platform next to the first train from Kyiv to Kherson
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