Putin May Be Facing Plot From Inner Circle, Warns Igor Girkin

Russian nationalist military blogger Igor Girkin has said that Vladimir Putin may face a move from within his inner circle to end his invasion of Ukraine which could lead to his removal as president.

Girkin, also known as Strelkov, played a key role in the conflict in Ukraine's Donbas region from 2014. He has repeatedly condemned Russia's military establishment and Putin for how they have conducted the war in Ukraine, which he backs.

In a Telegram post on Wednesday, Girkin said that the mutiny by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, in which his troops seized military facilities in Rostov-on-Don and marched on Moscow, had succeeded by redistributing power among the Russian elite.

Girkin said the rebellion, which Prigozhin called off, has weakened the positions of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Moscow regional governor Andrei Vorobyov, and Moscow city Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

Girkin also alleged that a group of Putin's inner circle, known as the "Ozero (Lake) Cooperative" and based in the Leningrad Oblast, wants to oust the president in favor of one of its own members, such as Prigozhin or Putin's First Deputy Chief of Staff, Sergey Kiriyenko.

Girkin said that the group wants to sabotage Russia's military operations and its defense industrial base as well as control of rear areas in the war so that Putin realizes he must accept defeat in the war in Ukraine.

The group would also target the Ministry of Defense, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, the FSB and other government structures, Girkin added.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted Girkin believes there should be a continued grinding war effort and no freezing of the lines in Ukraine, which Prigozhin, among other, have argued for.

The think tank said that Girkin's claims aim to lessen support for a ceasefire in Ukraine and try to portray the Wagner founder as a threat to Putin's regime "to encourage harsher Kremlin action against Prigozhin and discourage any efforts to freeze the front in Ukraine." Newsweek has emailed the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

Although Girkin suggested that Prigozhin emerged as the winner in the rebellion, much is still unclear about the circumstances of June 24, the deal that ended the mutiny and what it means for Putin and his inner circle.

"The mutiny exposed disagreement and instability among Russia's elites, including military leadership, and Putin's own leadership is predicated on the idea that he is a guarantor of stability," Tom Roberts, assistant professor of Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies at Smith College, Northampton (MA), told Newsweek.

"Putin's actions since June 24 also seem to confirm this, as the president has been eager to project his control of the armed forces, and to declare that national unity ensured the defeat of the mutiny," he said.