An expert has warned that infighting between the military and Vladimir Putin could be the beginning of the end of the Russian warmonger.
As the country faces break-ups due to internal divisions between Putin's right-hand men and the military, Luke Coffey, an expert at the Hudson Institute think-tank in Washington, said the Russian president could be ousted from power.
Putin's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was said to be the most significant moment for the Russian president. Coffey said the final break-up of the country is likely to happen once Russia is defeated in Ukraine.
He said: "This is the beginning of the end of Putin - the trajectory now is towards Putin being ousted and the further break-up of the Russian Federation."
Russia became an independent country after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, which created 15 sovereign states including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, reports the Mirror.
But Mr Coffey insists that the Soviet Union "is still collapsing", meaning that any further break-ups of the country "won't be easy to repair or fix".
If Russia is defeated in Ukraine, the expert believes the country is likely to become split in two - with those claiming the war should have been won, and other rich and powerful people eager to patch up relations with the West to preserve their own wealth and power.
Regardless, Coffey said he believes Putin will end up dead or in exile, and breakaway regions, where many soldiers returning from Ukraine will go, will rise up against Moscow and demand independence.
He said: "I think you'll see uprisings among discontented people, Moscow will have to decide which bits and pieces to fight for, which different power-brokers they can engage with to keep their interest in place.
"There will be a lot of difficult choices to be made and whoever is on top will have to keep an eye on their back."
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