A plot to 'poison' Vladimir Putin could see the Russian president replaced with another controversial political figure.
Ukrainian intelligence officials claim a plot to remove the President from the office has allegedly started after Western sanctions crippled the Russian economy.
Sources claim Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and confidant of Putin's, could be the favoured replacement.
He is one of the few figures to belong to Putin's powerful inner circle - and is said to share his anti-Western world view, after previously serving alongside the Russian President in the KGB.
However, he recently fell out of favour with the Kremlin following Russia's sustained military losses in Ukraine and botched invasion.
Early life and family
The former intelligence agent was born in Perm in the Ural mountains and graduated from the Dzerzhinsky KGB Higher School.
In an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta in 2017, Bortnikov, 70, claimed that "the destruction of Russia is still an obsession for many".
He met Putin while they both served as KGB officers in Leningrad in the 70s, and plays a key role in ensuring the President maintains power.
Putin left as a lieutenant colonel in 1991, while Bortnikov rose steadily up the ranks. The pair have been seen hiking previously, and are said to share a love of nature.
Bortnikov's son, Denis, is deputy-president of the state-owned VTB bank and is among those sanctioned by the UK, whileMr Bortnikov senior was sanctioned by the US in March 2021.
Fall-out
However, according to Andrei Soldatov, an expert on the Russian security services, Bortnikov does not wield the same influence on Putin as others - especially after recent events.
Putin is said to be furious at the inaccurate intelligence he received following the country's invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian president, director of the FSB from 1998-99, values the intelligence service over almost any other source.
Issues arose after the security service failed to use encrypted communications - meaning battlefield messages were easily intercepted.
But the ex-intelligence agent is thought to still have a large influence over insiders in Ukraine where he ran a number of agents.
FSB
The FSB has hundreds of agents throughout the country, using tactical groups to intimidate civilians in occupied areas, the Ukrainian military has claimed.
Since Bortnikov joined the FSB in 2008, the number of high-profile operations and assassinations has increased. He has been responsible for thousands of detentions and the tightening of civil restrictions
It was blamed for the poisoning of activist Alexei Navalny, who has criticised Putin, in August 2020 with a nerve agent.
The operation deals with everything from domestic security to intelligence and employs hundreds of thousands of people.
The Chief Directorate of Intelligence in Ukraine said: 'It is known that Bortnikov and some other influential representatives of the Russian elite are considering various options to remove Putin from power.
'In particular, poisoning, sudden disease, or any other "coincidence" is not excluded.'
