End of an Era? Russian Secret Service Allegedly Pinpoints Putin Presidential Replacement

Russian President Vladimir Putin's time as his country's leader may be approaching its limits, with reports suggesting that the Russian secret service has allegedly identified a potential successor to the presidency.

According to an expert, the Russian despot is having difficulty holding onto power and it's believe the Federal Security Service, or FSB, already has lined up his successor, Daily Star reported.

The intention to oust Putin comes at the same time as recent reports of the Russian leader's alleged involvement in the fatal private jet crash that claimed the life of Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and 10 others last week.

Putin has blasted Western leaders that claimed he was involved in the death of his former friend, even as he allegedly struggles to hold onto office.

Dr. Yuri Felshtinsky told Daily Star that the coup attempt Prigozhin led back in June was the beginning of the end for Putin.

Felshtinsky believes the FSB was actively looking to replace Putin, with the “entire process” of future elections in their hands.

He said, "The FSB controls and rules Russia. The entire process of the Russian Presidential election and the election computer which calculates the vote is by law controlled by the FSB. In 2021, Russia passed a law allowing remote voting. It might be good in most countries but not for Russia."

Because of this, Felshtinsky believes, the FSB could decide who becomes president at the next election, which is slated to take place in March 2024.

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Felshtinsky thinks the FSB involvement “will lead to a situation where the FSB will have the ability to add votes of the people who didn’t come to vote in order to choose their favorite candidate. My point is that it will be the FSB who choose the next president of Russia.”

It is still unknown how that election will go, but Felshtinsky speculates something could be afoot should the role of Prime Minister change to somebody else, which is what happened in 1991 when Putin replaced Boris Yeltsin, Daily Star reported.

Felshtinsky said, "If we see suddenly that the Prime Minister is changed to somebody else, let's say Nikolai Patrushev (the secretary of the Security Council of Russia), this will be an indication that they're making Patrushev the President."