Vladimir Putin’s regime faces COLLAPSE in 2023 as his inner circle turns against him over the “meat grinder” war in Ukraine

VLADIMIR Putin’s cruel regime faces total collapse over the next year as his own inner circle turns against him, experts have claimed.

As the Russian death toll in Ukraine surpassed the grim tally of 100,000, insiders have detailed how Vlad’s regime could collapse in 2023.

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Speaking to The Sun Online, US-based Russia expert Olga Lautman of the Center for European Policy Analysis said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if his regime collapsed in 2023.”

She said that the fall of the Putin regime will most likely come from within and not from an organic movement of ordinary people.

And she said that the many conspiracies about Vlad’s poor health could have been made public by his potential successors to undermine his regime.

“Rumours about Putin’s health are spread by security services,” she said.

“They have been published since 2008, always at the time of important events.

“They could lay the groundwork for Putin’s ouster, they could be a form of distraction for the West, or they could discourage insurgency.

“Why bother to overthrow Putin when he’s about to die?”

But Olga warns that waiting for Putin’s death is not a solution.

“Putin has exhausted all possibilities, but he will delay the war,” she said.

“He will look for weaknesses in the West, for friction between allies, such as between the West and Europe and between Britain and the EU.

“Russia is good at prolonging a war. Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine for the first time in 2014, and in March we face nine years of war in Ukraine.”

She also warned that there is no chance of peace in Ukraine until Putin is gone.

The West must work on a post-Putin era for Russia

Olga Lautmann

“Peace in Ukraine means Russia packs up its military and goes home,” she said. “It means that Russia will reoccupy all of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea and Donbass.”

She added: “This will not happen under Putin. If his regime collapses and there is a new face in the Kremlin who wants to make amends, there may be short-term changes, but ultimately no long-term retreat.”

And a Russian insider-turned-dissident has also claimed that Putin’s regime may be on the verge of collapse in the near future.

Yuri Felshtinsky, co-author of the book “Blowing up Russia” with the late Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, told The Sun Online: “Putin thought he would take Ukraine quickly and without casualties.”

But he also says that many Russians who have the means would rather emigrate abroad than overthrow the Putin regime.

“Many Russians have left since 2000,” he said. “The second great wave of emigration came when Putin invaded Ukraine.

“Those who were able to emigrate knew that the borders would soon be closed and mobilization would follow.

“We don’t know exactly how many Russians have left since the war began, but it’s about hundreds of thousands.

“After mobilization was called on September 21, another 300,000 fled.”

He explained the reason for the absence of major unrest in Russia: “Unfortunately, the Russians no longer believe in their ability to overthrow the government.

“Even those who want to believe it’s easier to emigrate.”

But he believes there are two likely ways in which Putin’s regime could fall.

If the war’s failure becomes obvious to ordinary Russians, the government could fall very quickly, as happened in the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s.

But he warned that Putin is likely to turn to nuclear weapons unless Ukraine is given the power to bring war to Russia.

“If the West continues to force Ukraine to wage a defensive war and does not provide it with long-range offensive weapons to attack Russia and Belarus, the war will not end,” he said.

“It will continue until Putin completely destroys Ukraine from the air.

“The whole country will look like Mariupol.”

For Putin, he said, the loss of soldiers on the ground will not affect him, it will simply be a “free war” in which he can shoot at Ukraine with no response.

However, he believes that the West will change its position in the next year.

Just this month, US President Joe Biden agreed to ship arms worth around $1.4 trillion to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the money and guns were not “charity” but merely a defense of democracy.

The West is “afraid of provoking a Russian nuclear strike,” Yuri said, which is why he was cautious about the current deliveries to Kyiv.

“Putin still believes he must take steps before he is either forced to accept defeat in Ukraine or turn to nuclear retaliation,” he said.

“If Putin accepts his defeat, he will probably be expelled from the Kremlin.”

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Olga has indicated that there is a “possibility” of another revolution in Russia, but added that “we shouldn’t rely on that as a solution”.

She said: “The USSR collapsed thanks in part to Soviet-Afghan war casualties.

“The high death toll in Ukraine will eventually catch up with ordinary Russians.”

She said the West must prepare for a “post-Putin” Russia and not make the same mistakes it made in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“We have to make sure we don’t repeat the mistakes of the 1990s,” she said.

“In the 1990s we flooded Russia with money for ‘democracy-building’ projects.

“A lot of this money went to the Russian mafia, the secret services and corrupt politicians.

“The West must work on a post-Putin era in Russia. We must ensure that the sanctions and other measures remain in place for some time until Russian society has changed.”

So how is the West helping to create a post-Putin Russia?

“Our main goal is to continue to provide Ukraine with everything it needs,” she said. “They are fighting for their country, for democracy and to stop Russia.”

She added: “Even with Russia taking heavy casualties and not hitting targets, and with such major logistical failures on the front line, they still meddle in operations abroad.”

Olga pointed to the recent attempted coup in Germany, led by a far-right prince.

“The prince met with a Russian escort,” she said. “That’s why it’s so important to ensure that Ukraine wins on the battlefield and that Russia is destroyed and driven out of Ukraine.”

Yuri has warned that Putin is likely to move his nuclear weapons to Belarus before firing them to avoid the risk of a direct retaliatory strike against Russia.

These nuclear weapons could then be aimed at NATO countries such as Poland and Lithuania.

“There is a very good possibility that they will try to use a nuclear bomb or sabotage one of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants,” he said.

After 10 months of war and more than 100,000 Russian casualties, Putin has shown no remorse.

In a televised address on Wednesday, he told the Russian people that his country was not responsible for the conflict in Ukraine, adding that both countries “share a tragedy”.

While performing alongside senior military officials, he bizarrely insisted he continued to view Ukraine as a “fraternal nation.”

He argued that foreign countries were to blame for the conflict, going back to his long-held claim that NATO was behind the war.

In his speech, Putin accused the West of “brainwashing” former Soviet republics, including Ukraine, which he believes should rightfully be part of Russia.

He said: “For years we tried to build good-neighborly relations with Ukraine by offering credit and cheap energy, but it didn’t work.”

The Kremlin has long claimed that NATO’s acceptance of former Soviet allies threatens Russia’s security.

Putin continued: “There is nothing to blame us for. We have always seen Ukrainians as a brotherly people and I still think so.

“What is happening now is a tragedy, but it’s not our fault.”