WASHINGTON — Strongman Vladimir Putin’s grip on power could be in danger, the spymaster of Estonia has claimed — as the Kremlin ramps up aggression against NATO countries.
Kaupo Rosin, the Director General of the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service (EFIS), suggested that while a “street revolution” in Russia seems unlikely, the walls are closing in on Putin.
“There are certainly voices which express that he should keep going, but I think the voices which, let’s say, urge [him] to maybe reconsider the situation are becoming stronger,” Rosin told the Telegraph while assessing the “internal tension” Russia faces.
“What he has, at this point, are only bad options.”
Estonia, a small Baltic nation on Russia’s border that was once part of the Soviet Union but is now a NATO member, has long been a close Kremlin watcher.
“I think, objectively, Russia is in a very bad place at the moment, and many people understand this in Russia,” he said.
Eventually, Putin’s allies might decide that the nation is better without the former KGB strongman — who has ruled Russia since 2000.
Meanwhile, NATO countries surrounding Russia have faced an uptick in aggression from Moscow over recent months, including cyberattacks, drone intrusions, and more.
One suspected Russian drone was shot down over Romania earlier this month, while German officials have identified at least three drones laced with explosives near an airport.
These provocations have been described as “gray-zone” attacks and have been increasing in frequency since April, for the most part, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a surprise sprint to Moscow to confer with his counterparts for reasons that have been subject to conflicting reports.
US intelligence believes that Russia could step up its incursions into NATO territories in the future as a test of the alliance’s resolve, the Journal reported.
Some have speculated that Ratcliffe met with his counterparts to warn Moscow against testing NATO’s resolve.
The uptick in Russia’s “gray-zone” aggression comes amid its stalled advancement in the war in Ukraine, in which the Kremlin has barely made any gains and struggled against drone strikes on sensitive targets within its borders.
“I would say, if something changes in Russia, then it will happen in a very rapid manner and we will all be surprised. It will be an overnight thing, if it ever happens,” Rosin stressed.
Early on in the war, Russia faced a revolt from the Wagner Group, a team of mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as “Putin’s chef,” who marched a convoy toward Moscow in a stunning internal threat to the Kremlin.
Russia put down the rebellion, and Prigozhin later died mysteriously in a plane crash. Putin was widely speculated to have had a hand in Prigozhin’s death.
Putin has been grappling with elevated inflation and a sputtering economy as it deals with the fallout from crippling sanctions and attacks on its homeland from Ukraine.
“We see that overall unhappiness levels with this war are increasing in all echelons of society, starting from normal people and throughout, up to the oligarchs,” Rosin told the outlet.
“More and more people do not want this war. The question is: what impact does this have on his [Putin’s] decision-making?”
