Vladimir Putin "will name his heir this year and retire to avoid revolution"

The Russian president is said to be afraid of being ousted by the leader of a private army called the "Wagner group" and plans to hand over power and take refuge in his secluded mansion

Putin has increasingly isolated himself from the international community since he invaded Ukraine (

Image: Mikhail Klimentyev/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

Vladimir Putin will be forced to choose his successor this year amid military defeats and plummeting popularity, says his former speechwriter.

The dictator will seek to cede power to a chosen heir and retire to his luxurious Black Sea palace rather than risk being ousted.

Putin will seek to cede his grip on power to a technocratic successor who could negotiate an end to the war with Ukraine and the West, and likely not fight the 2024 election, he told the Khodorkovsky Live YouTube channel.

Putin's entourage no longer considers him a "guarantor of stability" and is alarmed by the rise of Yevgeny Prigojine, head of Wagner's well-armed private army, hitherto loyal to the Kremlin but which could turn against him. an elite seen as weak in war, he says.

The palace was unearthed by rival political leader Alexei Navalny, who is now imprisoned in Russia (

Picture:

Navalny/e2w)

They fear being slaughtered with his hammer - the extrajudicial punishment meted out to his jailed soldiers who refuse to fight or seek to defect to Ukraine.

"The device looks at Prigozhin and stops seeing Putin as the guarantor of their stability," he said.

"The whole apparatus sits in horror, watching Prigozhin and being afraid that [his forces] will pursue them.

"They personally fear his hammer."

If Putin seeks to be nominated for another term - he has been president or prime minister since 1999 - he "could really get out of hand and not be elected".

Gallyamo...