Shakespeare observed that “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Then there’s the British fury over the failure of Russian President Vladimir Putin to fall prey to their games. This afternoon, as Moscow made clear that the Istanbul peace talks were serious, and not a publicity event for a Zelenskyy-Putin slapdown, London’s Daily Express published an article, “Vladimir Putin Is ‘Dead Man Walking’ as Expert Explains Peace Talk No-Show.”
It opened: “Speculation is mounting that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s grip on power may be slipping, with experts predicting his reign could end in assassination due to the calamitous conflict in Ukraine…. Observers have noted that Putin’s conspicuous reluctance to engage directly with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, especially for peace talks in Türkiye, underscores his apparent anxieties…. Western intelligence now views the potential for an assassination attempt on Putin as not merely based in rumor but an impending threat.”
Who are these observers and intelligence experts?
The infamous Col. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, the former commander of Britain’s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Regiment, explained: “There are analysts, people who know better than I, who believe Putin is now a dead man walking, a spent force whose war in Ukraine will cause his end.” The reason he didn’t show up in Istanbul is that he believes “he could be in danger or face arrest for war crimes…. Putin cannot keep playing for time and his bluff has been called brilliantly by Zelenskyy’s challenge to meet him face-to-face in Türkiye….”
Bruce Jones, cited as a top expert on Russian intelligence and military dynamics, remarked: “Things never end democratically in Russia and the situation is bad for Putin. He has had people killed for years and some in his military have already been dealt with in such a way—he knows the way this goes for a leader in Moscow who is not making good decisions. So he is probably right to be paranoid.”
Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, offered a more pragmatic view: “There are plenty of people who would want to have Putin bumped off. But his security is so tight that there is a real question over whether that is at all achievable and I believe that for the moment it is unlikely to happen.”
Finally, an unnamed former British intelligence officer was quoted as having the Mirror yesterday: “Putin is a very diminished person. But there are questions over whether him [sic] being killed would serve any purpose.”
