Ogryzko: Russian Elites Have a Chance to Remove Putin

Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ogryzko says Russia’s ruling elites now have a rare opportunity to remove Vladimir Putin from power, citing mounting economic pressures, strikes on oil infrastructure, and the deteriorating situation around occupied Crimea.

This is reported by LIGA.net.

According to Volodymyr Ogryzko, one of the strategies for bringing the war to an end is to transfer its consequences directly to Russian territory. He believes that this could increase pressure on the Russian leadership.

The former minister noted that as a result of the Ukrainian strikes, according to him, 42.74% of the total design capacity of the Russian oil refining industry was disabled. Also, according to him, a fuel shortage is recorded in the temporarily occupied Crimea and certain regions of Russia. At the same time, the diplomat does not expect mass protests in Russia.

“I don’t believe one millimeter, one percent, that a Russian grassroots revolt will happen. The only thing that will happen, and I think this is already obvious, is a conspiracy by the entourage. More precisely, by one of the groups around Putin,” said Ogryzko.

In his opinion, FSB representatives will continue to support the current political course, while potential resistance may come from big businessmen and oligarchs who are suffering significant financial losses due to the war and sanctions.

“Now they have a perfect chance to isolate Putin or eliminate him and then dump all the ballast they had on him. Well, they will have to talk to people from the West one way or another. Americans will fly in, and Europeans will come. And these people will have a great opportunity to say, “Dear friends, we were hostages of Putin and could not do anything. Now that we have eliminated him, he is gone. And we are building a new, beautiful Russia of the future and will negotiate everything with you,’” the diplomat said.

Ogryzko also noted that the de-occupation or complete annexation of Crimea could have a significant domestic political impact on Russia. According to him, the Russian authorities use Crimea as one of the key symbols of Vladimir Putin’s policy, so its loss could become a critical factor for the Kremlin.

It was previously reported that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was faced with a choice between further escalation of the war or the start of negotiations with Ukraine. According to British military analyst Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Moscow’s negotiating position is weaker now than it was a year ago.

By the way, the level of trust in Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has fallen by 3.4 percentage points in a week, to 73.3%. This is the sharpest drop since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to data from the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTSVGD).

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