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Vladimir Putin probably never expected that he would celebrate his 70th birthday this way.

The Russian leader, who rode a ruthless path to power and changed the law so he could theoretically rule until he was 84, has suddenly faltered.

His devastating war in Ukraine is increasingly slipping out of his control, prompting him to mobilize 300,000 reservists.

Putin tried to illegally annex vast territories in Ukraine.

Putin revealed to Musk in a private conversation what would make him use nuclear weapons in Ukraine?

The man who dreamed of restoring the former glory of the Russian Empire now presides over a country in isolation and an economy in chaos.

Russia analysts are already openly speculating about who will replace him. 

Here are

some

of

their

assumptions

:

The Trustee

,

Dmitry

Medvedev

There was a period when Dmitry Medvedev's future as Putin's successor was certain.

Like everyone in the Kremlin's inner circle, he hails from Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg.

"Putin liked Medvedev's lack of ambition," writes Russian journalist Mikhail Zigar in his book "All the Kremlin's Men."

With Russia's president hampered by the constitutional limit of two terms in office, Medvedev served as a warm-up chair from 2008 to 2012.

Dmitry Medvedev: There will be more strikes against Ukraine

The farce was that Putin acted as Prime Minister, probably pulling the strings behind the scenes.

After four years, Medvedev stepped down so that Putin could return to the presidency, and assumed that of prime minister.

Bodyguard

Alexei

Dyumin

Given Putin's penchant for machismo, it's perhaps fitting that a suitable stand-in should be the man who claims to have once saved him from a brown bear.

Alexei Dyumin has been part of Putin's personal security since he became acting prime minister in 1999.

Putin liked a former bodyguard as his successor

A Novaya Gazeta investigation named Dyumin as one of three presidential bodyguards who amassed assets worth millions of dollars from a giant poultry plant outside Moscow from which former workers say they were defrauded in the 1990s. "Dyumin will never question loyalty is to Putin, nor will he allow him to be harmed. He will be an excellent president for the power elite," suggested pro-Kremlin journalist Sergey Dorenko in 2017.

Nikolai Patrushev

According to Mark Galeotti of the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based security think tank, Patrushev is the most dangerous person in Russia, who has the unique opportunity to influence the president and "foster an aggressive, adventurist agenda."

Putin's right-hand man taking power in Russia?

Kremlin analysts suggest that Nikolai Patrushev's son Dmitry, who was appointed agriculture minister in 2018, could also be a potential successor.

Will Putin abdicate?

Although Putin is closer to the brink than ever before, it remains unclear whether a transition to power in Russia is imminent.

The circumstances under which he will leave his post and the person who will rise in his place can depend on many factors.

He has a 50,000-strong bodyguard charged solely with his protection, called the Federal Protective Service.

But whatever happens next, Putin no longer has a way out of his Ukrainian disaster, writes 24 Hours.

Ukrainian media speculates where Zelensky was hidden

His main opponent, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, now says he has no intention of negotiating a ceasefire with him, ABC News reports.

"We will negotiate with the new president," he said.