‘Putin will be gone by 2023’: Ex MI6 chief says the Russian president will be sent to a sanatorium

Warmongering Russian president Vladimir Putin will be shipped off to a sanatorium by the end of the year, a former MI6 chief predicts.

With persistent rumours of serious ill health for the Russian strongman, one method of ‘moving things on’ without need for a violent coup would be to place him in a long term hospital for the incurably unwell, suggested Richard Dearlove.

The various Russian systems of governance over the centuries have always been autocratic and have never been designed with transitions of power in mind.

But now, with Russia facing military humiliation and economic catastrophe, and led by a leader who is rumoured to be afflicted with a variety of life-threatening diseases, thoughts are turning inwardly in the Kremlin as to how to replace the man in power.

These are the thoughts of Dearlove, who was speaking on the One Decision podcast which he co-hosts. 

‘I think he’ll be gone by 2023 – but probably into the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as the leader of Russia.’ 

‘I’m not saying he won’t emerge from the sanatorium, but he won’t emerge as the leader of Russia any longer.

‘That’s a way to sort of move things on without a coup,’ he concluded.

Sir Dearlove told the One Decision podcast: ‘I think he’ll be gone by 2023 – but probably into the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as the leader of Russia’

 With Russia facing military humiliation and economic catastrophe, and led by a leader (Putin, pictured) who is rumoured to be afflicted with a variety of life-threatening diseases, thoughts are turning inwardly in the Kremlin as to how to replace the man in power

File photo of a health institution. With persistent rumours of serious ill health for Vladimir Putin (pictured), one method of ‘moving things on’ without need for a violent coup would be to place him in a long term hospital for the incurably unwell, suggested Richard Dearlove

Rumours have been circling for years that Putin (pictured gripping table during a meeting last month) has health problems, and they have intensified since he launched invasion of Ukraine

Putin gripped the armrest of his chair during a meeting with Alexander Lukashenko earlier this year, after footage showed his arm shaking

In April it was reported that Putin was suffering from thyroid cancer and was followed 24 hours a day by a specialist doctor.

The discovery, by investigative media Project (or Proekt) media – blocked in Russia and now functioning from abroad – backs recent theories that Putin declared war when he was suffering medical problems hidden from the Russian people.

One version is that he has been treated with steroids, leading to a bloated look around the face and neck.

And the claim was supported by Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, who revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has had cancer and that he believed he had overcome it.

Dearlove fingered Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the National Security Council and one of Putin’s favoured ‘siloviki’ – security officers – as the likely stand in should Putin be ferreted away into a sanatorium.

The clip, taken as Putin met with his counterpart from Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, showed the Russian leader’s left foot repeatedly raising and lowering as his knee collapsed inward

‘The stand in in this scenario probably becomes permanent,’ he added. ‘There is no succession plan in the Russian leadership.’

He speculated that we are reaching ‘the end of this regime in Russia’ but ‘that doesn’t mean it is going to disappear.’

‘What I’m saying over the next year, 18 months maybe something, it is going to break apart.

‘There is no question that this Ukrainian venture is a catastrophe,’ he added.

‘The economy is in a mess, the sanctions are really going to start biting over the next three to six months, there will be very high inflation and over and above that, militarily it is a complete fiasco.’ 

On top of reports of throat cancer, there is heavy speculation that Putin may be suffering from Parkinson’s, having been filmed meeting with other world leaders shaking hands and feet uncontrollably.  

A clip of  Putin bizarrely twisting his foot and seemingly struggling with jerky leg movements as he met with his counterpart from Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, came out last week, with even the Tajik leader noting the movements.

Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone has revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has had cancer. Pictured: Oliver Stone on the Lex Fridman Podcast where he made the comments

Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone has been granted unprecedented access to the Russian President in the past. Pictured: Stone speaks with President Vladimir Putin in June, 2019

Christopher Steele (pictured), who once operated in Russia as an MI6 agent, said Putin, 69, is having to take regular breaks to receive medical treatments and that there was effectively ‘no clear political leadership’ in Moscow

ENT surgeon Alexey Shcheglov (marked) is seen by Vladimir Putin’s side during 2014 Sochi Olympics

Yesterday, former MI6 spy Christopher Steele claimed Putin is losing his grip on power due to his ailing health and is leaving the Kremlin in ‘increasing disarray and chaos’ as the war in Ukraine marches on.

Steele, who once operated in Russia as an MI6 agent, said Putin, 69, is having to take regular breaks to receive medical treatments and that there was effectively ‘no clear political leadership’ in Moscow.

It has been well noted across the world that Putin has reacted to the Covid pandemic with extreme paranoia, placing world leaders he meets with vast distances away from him and avoiding public situations.

Severe ill health would help explain this behaviour, as he would be at acute risk were he to catch Covid.

Yet as a result, it has meant that the Russian autocrat has been isolated from contact from human contact and the outside world for the best part of two years, perhaps hindering is decision-making process.

Even staunch supporter Stone speculated along these lines, that ‘perhaps he lost touch – contact – with people’.

It was not clear if Putin was getting the correct intelligence, he admitted, before adding: ‘You would think he was not well informed perhaps, about the degree of cooperation he would get from the [ethnic Russians] in Ukraine…

‘That would be one factor, that he didn’t assess the situation correctly.’

It could also be that his ‘isolation from normal activity’ and no longer meeting people ‘face to face’ due to health concerns for Putin over Covid may have led to errors, Stone speculated.

Most recently, on May 14, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Major General Kyrylo Budanov claimed Putin was ‘very sick’, before suggesting that plans for a coup were already underway.  

Mr Steele told LBC this week: ‘Our understanding is that there’s increasing disarray in the Kremlin and chaos.

‘There’s no clear political leadership coming from Putin, who is increasingly ill, and in military terms, the structures of command and so on are not functioning as they should.’ 

Understandably, Mr Steele was unable to reveal his source but said he was ‘fairly confident’ of their claims. 

‘What we do know is that he’s constantly accompanied around the place by a team of doctors,’ said Mr Steele. 

Surgeon Yevgeny Selivanov, of Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital, has flown to the Black Sea resort Sochi – one of Putin’s preferred residences – dozens of times in recent years.

The respected doctor’s thesis – showing his area of medical expertise – was entitled: ‘Peculiarities of diagnostics and surgical treatment of elderly and senile patients with thyroid cancer’.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s top spokesperson, has repeatedly denied that there are any issues with the dictator’s health.

But Mr Steele said many government meetings at the Kremlin are having to be broken up into sections to allow Putin to leave for medical treatments. 

‘It’s certainly having a very serious impact on the governance of Russia at the moment,’ he said.

But despite his decline, there is little to no chance he will withdraw from Ukraine given the ‘political corner he’s painted himself into’, Mr Steele said. 

He added: ‘It’s probably driving his wish to solidify his legacy as he sees it.’

Mr Steele said that Putin was ‘probably’ suffering from Parkinson’s but that one cannot know ‘the exact details of what his ailment is.’