Former CIA officials say Putin may be at risk of being killed or expelled by members of his inner circle

• A former Moscow-based CIA official said Putin may face a threat from within his inner circle.

• Daniel Hoffman told The Daily Beast that Putin could “hit his head.”

• Another former CIA officer said Putin was safe as long as his elite guards were on his side.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin could face a serious internal threat and was at risk of being killed or expelled by members of his inner circle, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official said.

Daniel HoffmanFormer CIA officer, formerly based in Moscow, Told the Daily Beast Putin may face a threat from a top aide who is dissatisfied with his actions in Ukraine.

According to the outlet, Hoffman highlighted three people close to Putin as potential threats: Chief Nikolai Patrush of the Kremlin Security Council, Federal Security Service Alexander BortnikovWhen Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

“No one is going to ask,’Hey Vladimir, do you want to leave?’ No, it’s a terrible hammer on the head and he’s dead, or it’s time to go to the sanatorium,” Hoffman said daily. I told Beast. “They afflict him for it. That’s what they do.”

in the meantime, Ronald MarksA former CIA officer and now a senior researcher at the Atlantic Council think tank, Putin told the outlets that Putin may still be safe if the agents that protect Putin remain loyal.

“And he did a great job of getting rid of people who weren’t on his side,” Marks said.

However, comparing Putin with other exiled Russian leaders, Marks said such numbers were “dead in the office” or out of power.

In May, former British intelligence director Richard Dearlove also Putin will eventually be placed in a sanatorium and may be expelled from power by 2023...

That same month, Ukrainian intelligence Putin said he was the target of an attempted assassination. Western officials refuted the claim and The “controlled environment” around Putin will make the assassination attempt “very complicated”.

In April, President Putin Wipe out the members of his inner circle. According to media reports, similar purges are occurring. Among Putin’s “private army” national guards When Russian army top brass..

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