Way back in May, we heard that Vladimir Putin’s inner circle was maneuvering to install a successor while they grew concerned about his mental (and physical) health. Fears about the former are increasingly coming to the forefront around the world, although it surely seems that Putin has been able to push back any resistance to his Russian rule as time wears forth. He’s also insisted upon ignoring reality (Ukraine’s making major advances as troops take back territory) and formally “annexing” parts of Ukraine, and amid this hot mess, spectators increasingly worry about Putin’s nuke-happy vibe. This week, President Biden declared that Putin is “not joking” when he talks about using nuclear weapons, especially “because his military is — you might say — significantly underperforming.”
That underperformance has apparently led Putin to approach his 70th birthday while “isolated deep inside nuclear bunkers,” according to The Daily Beast. The piece quotes people who have known Putin over the years, as well as a high-school student who participated in Putin’s recent Zoom broadcast (for Teacher’s Day), in which he went on an “insane” rant “from some bunker about Nazis.” The student expressed fear about Putin deciding to go nuclear, and here’s more from The Beast:
Putin’s whereabouts is often a subject of fascination in Russia. When he holds his meetings on Zoom it is hard to figure out where he is, but during the pandemic it became obvious that he has at least two identical offices, one in Moscow and the other in his residence on the Black Sea, in the city of Sochi.
Gennady Gudkov, an exiled former Russian parliamentarian, told The Daily Beast that the president was taking precautions as the war in Ukraine spirals out of control. “Putin is going to hide in a bunker in case of a nuclear war,” he said. “But he is not safe there either; he will be destroyed — that’s what Biden should tell Putin clearly now.”
From there, one wonders whether intervention is possible, although Putin doesn’t take kindly to criticism and even jails his critics on a long-term basis (ask Alexei Nalvany how terribly that goes). Russia has grown increasingly isolated (other than befriending the Taliban and holding onto Iran and China) following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and Zelensky’s army is now driving Russian tanks down streets after pushing Putin’s troops out of supposedly annexed territory. It’s not going great for Putin over there, but let’s hope he doesn’t lose it and push the wrong button.
(Via The Daily Beast)