People & Money

Nervous Kremlin faces growing efforts from all sides within Russia to topple Putin as coup rumours swell in Moscow

Michiel Willems

September 12, 2022

Staunch Putin loyalist Kadyrov criticizes Kremlin on Telegram
Lawmakers in St Petersburg urge parliament to prosecute Putin for treason
Lawmakers in Moscow call for imminent Putin removal
Tensions between Kremlin and security service FSB growing fast
Social media activity in Russia in overdrive
Analysts convinced Kremlin coup may be imminent
‘Siloviki’ group of former FSB officers pushing hard to replace Putin

The Kremlin seems increasingly unsure what to do with growing calls and efforts to remove its head, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A range of prominent and well-known Russians have started calling for the removal of the country’s head of state as the invasion into Ukraine is increasingly turning into a disaster.

What complicates the issue is that it’s not merely anti-Kremlin voices who question the country’s leadership.

In fact, one of Putin’s staunchest allies, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a Kremlin loyalist, has criticised the Russian Army’s performance in Ukraine following a humiliating defeat in Izyum over the weekend, seen as a critical supply hub in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region.

In an 11-minute message posted on Telegram, Kadyrov concluded the invasion is not going to plan and he may feel forced to lecture Putin on what is not going well.

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“If today or tomorrow changes are not made in the conduct of the special military operation, I will be forced to go to the country’s leadership to explain to them the situation on the ground.”
Kremlin loyalist Ramzan Kadyrov on Telegram

“I’m not a strategist like those in the defence ministry. But it’s clear that mistakes were made. I think they will draw a few conclusions,” newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe quoted him as saying.

Kadyrov’s statements are a humiliating blow to Putin: Criticism of the ‘special operation’ in Ukraine is not permitted. Dozens of journalists, lawyers and other individuals who dared to question or criticise the invasion have been arrested in recent months.

Calls for Putin’s imminent removal

Kadyrov’s Kremlin criticism comes only a day after a number of local Russian lawmakers – in Moscow and Putin’s home city of St. Petersburg – called for the removed of Putin.

The municipal deputies from the Smolninsky District Council in St. Petersburg wrote on Twitter that Russia’s parliament should remove Putin and charge him with high treason for launching the war in Ukraine.

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St. Petersburg-based Deputy Dmitry Palyuga tweeted that the decision by President Putin to start the so-called “special military operation is detrimental to the security of Russia and its citizens.”

“The Council of the Smolninskoye Municipal District decided to appeal to the State Duma deputies with a proposal to bring charges of treason against President Putin in order to remove him from office,” Palyuga wrote in a tweet, adding that “the decision was supported by the majority of the deputies present.”

Prosecution looming

Following their statement, police have informed the lawmakers they face legal charges and potentially prosecution as their moves are “discrediting the current Russian government,” the Washington Post reported.

In addition, local lawmakers from a municipal council in Moscow’s Lomonosovsky borough made similar statements, urging Putin to resign and retire.

“The rhetoric you and your subordinates have used for a long time is imbued with intolerance and aggression, which in the end has effectively sent our country back into the Cold War era,” the Moscow councillors wrote in a statement, according to a report by the Latvia-based investigative magazine The Insider.

“Russia is once again feared and hated, and we are once again threatening the world with nuclear weapons.”
Lawmakers from a municipal council in Moscow’s Lomonosovsky borough

“In view of the above, we ask that you resign from your post, since your views and your model of government are hopelessly outdated and hinder the development of Russia and its human potential.”

Crackdown on dissent

Days after the invasion into Ukraine began, in late February, Putin signed a decree which makes it illegal for Russians to spread so-called “fake news” about the Russian military, government or other public bodies.

Those who are found guilty face prison terms of up to 15 years.

Those who have dared to speak out have been arrested and some have disappeared or died in a mysterious way.

Only weeks ago, the head of Russia’s biggest privately held oil producer, who criticised the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, died after reportedly falling out of a hospital window.

Ravil Maganov, chair of the board of LUKOIL, died this week in mysterious circumstances, according to Russian-language site Interfax.

The company is the biggest privately held oil producer in the country, and in March openly criticised Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Threat from FSB and generals

Rumours about attempts or calls to remove Putin are not new.

Earlier this year, in May, rumours were flying that a number of former generals and KGB officials was preparing to oust Putin and plan to end the war in Ukraine, which is increasingly seen across Russia as a strategic mistake and, above all, an economic disaster.

The Kremlin increasingly fears that many loyalists, including FSB officials, army generals and local lawmakers, plan to stab the Russian president in the back.

The top of Putin’s former employer – the Russian security service FSB – is said to be so frustrated about the lack of military progress in Ukraine that it has reached out to a number of generals and former army officials, according to various analysts and local media reports.

In particular a group called the ‘Siloviki’ – which comprises of former FSB officers who are active in Russian politics – is said to be pushing hard to replace Putin, together with former officers from the GRU, KGB and FSO, other Russian intelligence units.

Social media

The idea a coup may be increasingly likely is further strengthened by social media activity across Russia and Eastern Europe, which has gone into overdrive in recent weeks.

Tensions between Kremlin and FSB

Whether any genuine coup attempt is being prepared cannot be verified, but it has become evident that the relationship between the FSB and Putin has deteriorated since the start of the war.

In April, two senior officers in the FB, were put under house arrest by Putin.

Andrei Soldatov who runs, the well-informed investigative website Agentura, reported that Sergei Beseda, the head of the Fifth Service – the FSB’s foreign intelligence branch – and his deputy had been detained and put under house arrest.

The move was seen as a clear sign Putin is deeply concerned about the FSB’s role in the offensive against Ukraine and he fears forces within the intelligence apparatus may be working against him, Western officials told the Agentura platform.

“Both men have played a major role in intelligence operations against Ukraine for several years and highly likely played a major role in the planning for the invasion,” one said.

“There could be significant changes at senior levels in the FSB.”

Russian analyst Alexey Muraviev is also convinced that the Russian President may be facing a coup from his top military and intelligence chiefs soon.

Muraviev told Sky News Australia recently that an attempt to remove Putin may be extremely likely because “I think that there have been tensions between Russia and the intelligence community and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.”

“Clearly, there’s been a clear error of judgment that was made and it was probably driven by Putin himself about the situation in Ukraine.”
Russian analyst Alexey Muraviev

“I think that sort of false narrative was presented to them by the Supreme Commander in Chief, and when it fired back when the Russians began taking heavy casualties, Putin began quietly blaming the security services,” he continued.

“I don’t think went really well also because he’s coming from within the security apparatus.”

“About the initial planning and the initial phase of the invasion where the Russian military naturally assume that they’re going there as liberators rather than the invaders,” he explained.

When approached by City A.M., no one at the Kremlin was available to comment.