Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir PutinReuters

A group of “influential” Russian elites are planning to oust Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to “restore economic ties with the West that were destroyed by the war in Ukraine,” Ukrainian intelligence claimed on Sunday.

“Poisoning, sudden illness, accident – Russia's elite is considering removing Putin,” said a Facebook post from the Chief Directorate of Intelligence for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

The post said: “Their goal is to remove Putin from power as soon as possible and restore economic ties with the West that were destroyed by the war in Ukraine.”

“A certain part of the Russian political elite of the Russian Federation considers as the successor of Putin – the director of FSB Alexander Bortnikov. It is noteworthy that Bortnikov has recently fallen out of favor with the Russian dictator,” the ministry account said. “The official reason for the disgrace of the head of the FSB – fatal miscalculations in the war against Ukraine.”

Noting that Bortnikov and his department were responsible for analyzing the capability of the Ukrainian military and how the Ukrainian people would respond to a Russian invasion, the post alleged that Russian elites were looking at their options given the current situation.

“It is known that Bortnikov and some other influential members of the Russian elite are considering various options for removing Putin from power. In particular, poisoning, sudden illness, or other ‘accident’ is not excluded.”

The development could be connected with “the recent [report] of the location of Chechen units in the north of Kyiv,” according to the account.

“The information came from the Russian side. Probably, this is how the FSB leadership is trying to weaken [Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan] Kadyrov's influence. It may also be an attempt to establish cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities in advance, bypassing the current leadership of the Russian Federation,” the post said.