Is Putin's Inner Circle Already In Discussions On Who Is Going To Replace Him?

Russian President Vladimir Putin leads a meeting on economic issues in Moscow on Monday. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)  

Daily Beast: Putin’s Own Men Are Already Discussing Who Will Replace Him 

Three months into Vladimir Putin’s bloody “special operation” in Ukraine, his own men in the Kremlin are reportedly discussing who will replace him. 

That’s according to new reporting by the independent news outlet Meduza, which cited several sources close to the Russian presidential administration who said officials are increasingly fed up with Putin personally. 

Some of Putin’s own allies within the Kremlin walls have reportedly floated the idea of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin becoming his successor, or former President Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the deputy chairman of the Security Council. Sergei Kirienko, the first deputy chief of staff of the presidential administration, was also said to have been discussed as a contender.  

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Update: Kremlin officials 'are already discussing who will replace Putin' because 'there is an understanding he will not run the country in the foreseeable future' (Daily Mail)  

WNU Editor: When President Putin successfully pushed for constitutional changes in 2020 that would permit him to run in Russia's 2024 Presidential election (link here), I mentioned on this blog that many were unhappy with this decision. Everyone expected (including this blogger) that Putin was going to respect his Presidential term limit and not run for a third term, thereby giving a younger generation the opportunity to take over. 

That unhappiness still exists, and I would not be surprised if some of Putin's inner circle who see themselves running the country one day may see the Ukraine war as an opportunity in the future to put pressure on Putin to leave the office when his term ends in 2 years. So this talk that there are discussions within his inner circle to replace him does not surprise me. 

But you can take this to the bank. No one is going to push for Putin to be replaced with the war intensifying in Ukraine and relations with the West in a dangerous state of flux. Russians have circled their wagons, they are unified, and nothing is going to change that until the conflict has been resolved.