VLADIMIR Putin’s hardline supporters are turning against the tyrant as war-weary Russia becomes enraged by internet blackouts.
While insiders warn the Kremlin’s “most dangerous” challenge is yet to come, Putin’s overseas allies are scrambling to distance themselves from his regime.
Facing mounting opposition at home and abroad, the dictator is just “one push” away from being toppled, experts say.
Putin attack dog and blogger Ilya Remeslo, 42, caused a storm with his unprecedented criticism of the despot – demanding that Putin be put on trial as a war criminal.
A day later he was put into a psychiatric hospital. It remains unclear why.
Soon after, pro-war blogger Anastasia Kashevarova posted: “A wall of mistrust and misunderstanding is growing between the people and the government.
“Honestly, I’ve run out of explanations for why government officials are acting like arseholes.”
Kashevarova is just one of a growing number of staunch Kremlin supporters breaking ranks to turn against their leader, angered by sweeping internet blackouts and pressures on Telegram.
Internet outages have swept Moscow and St Petersburg, after Putin pushed through laws to allow the paralysis of mobile, broadband, landlines and “any other means of communication” last month.
Opposition politician Andrei Pivovarov, who was released from a Russian prison in 2024, described the backlash from some former cronies as “strange” but “welcome”.
He told The Sun: “We’re seeing a number of critical comments from people who, until very recently, were part of the Kremlin’s propaganda machine.
“For them, Telegram is not just a platform. It is a source of influence, money and status.
“So when Telegram comes under attack they see it as a direct threat to their own position inside the system.”
Meanwhile, ordinary people have become exhausted by a war that has left Russia’s economy reeling – with food prices spiking by 18.6 per cent in just two years.
Since the start of the year the tax burden on civilians shot up, squeezing small businesses while larger corporations live in fear of being taken over by the state.
And many have been forced to use walkie-talkies and paper maps after broadband, landlines and mobile connections were paralysed.
Pivovarov said: “It is important to understand that Russia remains a full dictatorship where public discontent does not automatically turn into protest.
“It is suppressed by the security services, propaganda and fear.”
While the Kremlin’s reign of terror may stamp out unrest for now, Mad Vlad’s “most dangerous challenge” is expected to come when soldiers return from war.
Pivovarov said: “Large numbers of soldiers will return from the front with combat experience and a completely different attitude to the state.
“The group who originally believed in the Kremlin, and even more so those who were forced to fight are the group who could become a serious risk for Putin.”
Throughout the raging conflict, Putin has become increasingly desperate in his bid to defeat Ukraine, often at the expense of his troops.
About 1.2million Russian soldiers have been killed, wounded or are missing since Putin ordered his illegal invasion of Ukraine almost four years ago.
And more than 6,000 troops were also lost to a renewed offensive between March 17 and 20, according to the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s army.
Injured soldiers have also been thrust forward to the front line, while those who try to escape face savage penalties as corruption runs rife.
Pivovarov said: “People see their lives getting worse and worse, inside the army that feeling is even stronger.
“There is a growing question of what exactly they are fighting for.
“Hardly anyone believes in the old slogans about denazification and demilitarisation anymore. So people ask why thousands are dying every day, for what.
“The land being captured is often ruined, destroyed and of no real value even to those taking it.”
Resentment from those in the army is “far more dangerous” for the Kremlin than discontent among civilians, he added.
The Wagner Group shocked the world when it launched a mutiny in 2023 against President Vladimir Putin’s government.
Yevgeny Prigozhin – the late leader of the paramilitary force – accused officials of denying support to his fighters in Ukraine and mounted a rebellion.
His troops crossed from Ukraine and seized the southern city of Rostov on 23 June 2023, after months of increasing tensions.
His forces then began a brief charge towards the capital, meeting virtually no resistance, but came to an abrupt end a day later.
Prigozhin died exactly two months later in a mysterious plane crash.
Pivovarov said: “When I speak to people who are still serving, one thing I hear quite often is that Prigozhin moved too early with his mutiny.
“They say if he tried it now everyone would walk.”
And it’s not just those at home turning on Putin, as his international allies withdraw from the dictator on multiple fronts.
John Foreman, former UK Defence Attaché to the Russian Federation and Ukraine, said the fall of the regime in Syria, and trump’s attacks on Venezuela and Iran have left the despot isolated.
Foreman told The Sun: “What we’ve seen the last four years is how weakened Russia has been.
“Russia likes to talk a lot about its partners, but actually, I don’t think it’s got any strong true friends at all.”
While Russia is desperate for friends on the international stage, Putin no longer has the resources to support them.
Foreman said: “Syria fell, and Russia poured huge amounts of effort into bolstering their relationship, on military and political fronts, backing up the regime against the opposition.
“And now with Iran, the whole world can see how limited Russia is and how it’s lost ground strategically over the last four years”.
What little support Russia has offered Tehran also risks costing Putin his friends in the Gulf.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the leader of the United Arab Emirates, was the first leader to visit Putin after his invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
But as the war in the Middle East rages on, the UAE has found itself under attack from Iran’s drones using targeting intelligence allegedly provided by Russia.
The Gulf nations have now turned to Putin’s nemesis, President Zelensky, for their defence support.
Putin is mortgaging Russia’s future for his war in Ukraine in a suicidal move that will cripple his country’s political, diplomatic, economic and demographic potential, Foreman said.
In the meantime, China is quickly gaining power.
“Russia’s dependence towards China has accelerated over the last four years. China respects force and power,” Foreman said.
“Great Russia couldn’t capture Kyiv and is stuck in a four-year-long war of attrition, which isn’t winning or shows no sign of recovery.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16178922/putin-loyalists-break-rank-kremlin-tyrant-faces-danger/
