Former deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Russian oppositionist Ilya Ponomaryov believes that the Russian "towers of the Kremlin" are beginning to think about what to do with the "weak and toxic" Putin.

For now, they cannot dare a coup d'état because they are afraid of the future. 

He said this on the air of the "Freedom" TV channel.

"There are many towers of the Kremlin, and this is the secret of the endurance of Putin's power. And all participants in these processes understand that if there is no Putin, then everything can simply fall apart. Because then there will be no spider in the center, which controls the entire web and balances various centers of influence . But the spider is becoming more and more toxic and weak. Since there are military defeats, then of course the temptation for some elements of this design to leave the game is very high. They do not do it yet, because there are no guarantors of the rear. They understand that this is a leap into the unknown. They don't know whether the West will protect them if they resist. And if there is an alternative, the process will speed up. But they will already put their chips in," Ponomaryev said. 

A coup d'état in Russia 

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Western and Russian analysts have been pondering whether a coup and Putin's removal from power is possible in the Russian Federation. 

Thus, political scientist Daniel Treisman believes that the complete collapse of Vladimir Putin's regime is a more likely option to remove him from power than an armed uprising of generals or a mutiny of Kremlin elites.

A similar opinion is held by the Russian publicist and oppositionist Andriy Piontkovskyi.

This can happen due to the successes of the Armed Forces at the front. 

Instead, Russian opposition leader Ilya Yashin said that removing Putin from outside is unrealistic.

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