According to a Ukrainian intelligence agency, Kremlin officials are trying to assassinate Vladimir Putin by poisoning him.

According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense’s Chief Directorate of Intelligence, a “group of powerful” members of the “Russian elite” planned to poison Putin.

This group’s purpose is to depose Putin as quickly as possible and reestablish economic links with the West. The impact of the conflict and accompanying sanctions on the Russian economy has disturbed key insiders, according to the intelligence brief.

The Ukrainian intelligence service believes that FSB chief Oleksandr Bortnikov has already been picked as Putin’s successor. “It is well known that Bortnikov and other powerful Russian elite figures are studying various methods to depose Putin,” the Chief Directorate of Intelligence said. “Poisoning, sudden illness, or any other ‘coincidence’ is not ruled out.”

The suspected plot may have been prompted by Chechen troops’ setbacks in the country’s north, according to the agency. After several of their members were slain, Ukraine said last weekend that a portion of the famed Chechen fighter squadron had been transferred back to Russia.

Given how the two men have worked their way up through Russian society together, the claim that Bortnikov is the guy to succeed Putin may come as a surprise. Before Bortnikov took over the renamed security service, they both worked for the KGB in Leningrad.

According to an in-depth examination by the Dossier Centre, Bortnikov’s FSB is both the brain and the heart of the Putin dictatorship, a “state inside the state.”

Bortnikov, who is normally camera-shy, provided the goods for Putin at the start of the conflict when he claimed that two of his border guards had arrested a Ukrainian military saboteur alive on Russian soil. He said that the saboteur had hostile intentions against the state before his team killed them.

Despite the fact that the assertions were anticipated and later discredited by the West, they were used to legitimize the war within Russia. Bortnikov has lost favor with Moscow’s rulers because of mistakes made during the Ukraine war.

Putin has demoted eight generals in an attempt to deflect attention away from himself for the horrific battle that has claimed the lives of over 15,000 of his men in just 25 days. The increasingly paranoid leader has even made public pronouncements about “traitors” and “scum” whom he suspects of betraying Moscow by leaking information.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, the senior plotters chose Bortnikov, 70, because they believe he can lead the restoration of commercial relations with the West. They are increasingly concerned that Russia would be designated as a pariah state, ostracized by the West, and that their homes, bank accounts, and yachts will be seized, as well as their ability to travel and conduct business.

Bortnikov is suspected of having a network of insiders working and residing in Ukraine, where he previously controlled a network of operatives. The tough career spy from the Urals has long been one of Putin’s closest associates.

He also heads the FSB’s economic division, where he played a crucial role in fostering Russia’s post-Soviet economy while simultaneously overseeing counter-intelligence operations to guarantee the country’s security was not compromised by Western spies.

Putin, on the other hand, is said to be upset with him for allowing his military leaders to be caught off guard by Ukraine’s robust anti-invasion defense.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian security council, has already fired FSB deputy Vyacheslav Ushakov over intelligence blunders that contributed to the invasion. Bortnikov, who allegedly urged the firing, is now in disgrace with Putin as a result of his dismissal.

“It is interesting that Bortnikov has lately been degraded by the Russian ruler,” a Ukrainian intelligence source recently stated.

“The stated cause for the FSB leader’s demotion is grave miscalculations during the conflict against Ukraine. Bortnikov and his department were in charge of analyzing Ukraine’s mood as well as the army’s capability.”

Someone inside Moscow’s intelligence agency is also accused of leaking information to Ukraine about Chechen militants invading Kyiv from the north. Bortnikov, a seasoned spy and prominent Moscow official, is not suspected of any wrongdoing, but he has known Putin for decades.

A tip on the Chechens proved essential to Ukraine’s war planners, allowing Ukrainian special forces and regular troops to ambush the Chechen group, killing a large number of people. Someone in Putin’s inner circle of spies is also accused of passing intelligence to Ukraine’s SBU internal espionage agency about assassination attempts against President Zelensky.

Assassination attempts on Zelensky have been averted several times by Ukraine’s special forces as they closed in on the hero commander within Kyiv. According to intelligence supplied by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense Main Intelligence Directorate, Russian President Vladimir Putin may now be facing a mounting conspiracy against him.

“These whispers and suspicions within the Moscow inner circle will sow the seeds of paranoia and mistrust in the leadership,” a Western source told the Daily Mirror last night.

“There’s little question that when the Russian elite feels the sting of sanctions, they’ll be looking ahead to see what a disaster this conflict has become for them – and it’ll only get worse.”

“There is a strong suspicion that a tiny group of people is now attempting to depose Russian President Vladimir Putin, but whether they will succeed remains to be seen.”

“They are certainly receiving a lot of encouragement from many powerful persons in the west, and the general consensus is that enough is enough.”

“Crucially, despite the fact that Ukraine has suffered greatly as a result of the invasion, it has managed to catch Russia’s military off guard at every turn, anticipating their military movements and weakening their troops.

“It’s extremely probable that someone has been leaking information and has been given every incentive to do so, possibly with the promise of a career in the west or even in Russia.”

According to a report of Mirror, Russian ambassadors may have been given a secure future in the west in exchange for openly denouncing Russian leadership and the war. According to a different senior source, numerous western leaders have considered the possibility of granting shelter to some of Moscow’s diplomats, together with Ukraine.

Although no one has yet come out, Ukrainian sources suggest that western officials have already given their spy services permission to approach Ukraine.

Ukrainian military authorities from the Ministry of Defence Intelligence Directorate warned last night that a big number of Putin followers were attempting to assassinate Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky once more.

Officials in Kyiv claim that killers from Putin’s mercenary “Wagner Group” are on their way to Ukraine to assassinate President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Denys Shyhal.

Both men have survived at least four genuine assassination attempts, and a large number of so-called “elite” Russian special forces agents and murderers have been murdered or apprehended in Kyiv.

It’s also thought that brutal Chechen special forces members have been given bribes to assassinate the Ukrainian leader, who has publicly defied Russia on several occasions.

It’s unclear if the Ukrainian intelligence charges are true or just a ruse to foment discord among Russia’s senior brass. Thousands more Russians risked detention in the days following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to demonstrate their opposition to the conflict.

The police’s ruthless assault on protests appears to have suffocated any early signs of a popular revolt, causing those hoping for an internal Russian collapse to wonder whether Russia’s elites might overthrow Putin. The main impediment appears to be the Russian government’s power structure, which Putin has methodically set in place over the past two decades.

The 69-year-old has been cautious not to accuse any top officials in the decision to invade Ukraine, perhaps unifying his inner circle in the fear of facing an international court. According to the expose Putin’s People, the Russian leader intentionally pushes individuals he chooses to run industries to skim some cream off the top in order to ingratiate himself with them and ensure they can’t leave.

Putin, according to Adam Casey, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Michigan’s Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies, is impregnable to a coup. He told Business Insider, “He’s spent a lot of time and effort constructing the Russian security system in a way that renders him reasonably invulnerable to coups.”

The FSB is a “very successful” means of coup prevention, according to Casey, since military officers are afraid of being watched and assassinated.