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I’m a security expert – Putin is going the way of Saddam & Hitler…his blind fury over coup betrayal will be his downfall
VLADIMIR Putin's blind fury over Wagner's coup betrayal will lead to a downfall like some of the worst dictators in history, a security expert said.
Russia was on the brink of collapse in a 24-hour rebellion which saw the ruthless Wagner Group mercenaries rise up against the Kremlin.
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His old pal Yevgeny Prigozhin walked away from the battlefield in Ukraine to declare an "armed rebellion" against his motherland.
The nuclear-armed state looked like it was on the verge of a complete meltdown - until the attempted coup was abruptly called off by Prigozhin after striking a deal with the Kremlin.
But Western officials believe this is "chapter one" of a new era for Russia - with potentially Stalin-style purges to come as Putin tries to shore up his weakened rule.
Putin is dealing with the fallout of the biggest challenge to his iron fist rule since he rose to power in the aftermath of the collapsed Soviet Union.
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As Prigozhin fled to neighbouring Belarus, Putin also appears to have gone to ground - with his already fraying authority seemingly in tatters.
Dr Michele Groppi, a lecturer in defence studies at King's College London, said the dictator now realises that everything he's done to maintain his grip at the top has not paid off - like Saddam and Hitler.
At the 11th hour, Putin was forced to back peddle on his previous claims to "crush" and "punish" the mutineers - and instead offer them amnesty and their leader a safe route to exile in Belarus.
The "fuming" tyrant will have only sorted a secret deal with Prigozhin after being told to "calm down" by his inner circle, Dr Groppi told The Sun.
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"If it were up to Putin, he would have gone to civil war," Dr Groppi, the president of , said.
"Putin is so p***ed. Let’s take a look at the lives of a number of dictators – Saddam Hussein, even Hitler, during their last periods.
"They were so bitter, so disenchanted, and they realised that everything they had done hadn’t really paid off.
";Surrounding yourself with ‘yes men’ may be beneficial until a certain point until things start going down the crapper.
"He feels betrayed and he will want to murder everyone.
"I don’t believe, for a second, that by himself he was willing to say ‘no it’s okay, we’re all brothers, we’ll forgive you’.
";He doesn’t see it that way. If it were up to him, he would murder them in the most brutal possible way."
Dr Groppi said Putin would have cracked down "in the most brutal possible way" if he had "full control of everything".
"But obviously he can’t,"; Dr Groppi said.
"Even Medvedev or his close friends would have told him to calm down and he would have realised this.
If it were up to Putin, he would have gone to civil war
Dr Michele Groppi
"He’s not stupid, he would have realised this. He himself and his close operatives would have come to this conclusion. But he would be fuming."
Experts said the Russian leader has emerged from the attempted coup shaken, weakened and exposed.
Dr Groppi said Russia would never be the same again after Wagner's extraordinary one-day mutiny.
“Something has changed – and it’s big," he said.
“They were so close to the end. Had civil war broken out, it would have been the end – the end of the war, the end of Putin, so much bloodshed."
As suddenly as the rebellion began on Saturday, it quickly ended - with Prigozhin ordering his men to stand down and telling the world he was moving to Belarus after striking a deal.
But it's thought potential Stalin-style purges could now come as Putin tries to shore up his weakened rule.
Putin's decision to seemingly let Prigozhin go despite him almost tearing Russia apart has raised many eyebrows.
His top propagandists were outraged that the warlord wasn't given a "bullet into the forehead".
Ashok Swain, professor of peace and conflict research at Sweden's Uppsala University, told The Sun: "It has exposed the vulnerability of Putin and has damaged his reputation as a strong man in full control of his country."
He added: "The vulnerability of the Russian military vis-a-vis Prigozhin's private army opens the floodgate to all sorts of betrayals and treachery among the top military generals.
"Anything is possible. No one should overlook the fact that Russia has weapons to destroy the world several times."
It has exposed the vulnerability of Putin and has damaged his reputation as a strong man in full control of his country
Ashok Swain
Priogzhin - known as "Putin's chef" - had been involved in an increasingly bitter war of words with the Russian military over their lack of support for his mercenaries in Ukraine.
Wagner forces stormed across the border from Ukraine and seized to cities of Rostov and Voronezh - including the HQ of Russia's military operations.
His forces then headed north - shooting down six Russian military helicopters and a plane on the way as Vlad's forces hastily fortified Moscow.
And then as the convoy came within 120 miles of the capital - with Putin's regime looking like it had just hours left - they stopped.
Priogzhin then suddenly announced the rebellion was over via Telegram.
In an astonishing show of weakness, Russia insisted they had dropped all criminal charges against Prigozhin - and he and his men were free to leave, so long as the warlord left of Belarus.
The exact details of the "deal" remain unclear.
Russian human rights organisation Gulagu - which has sources within the security services - reported Prigozhin had been plotting his coup for eight months.
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Intelligence chiefs are believed to have known at least two weeks in advance what Prigozhin was planning - and were very worried about the prospect of a nuclear state dissolving into civil war.
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