Vladimir Putin's nuclear weapons threat is a "bluff" and his regime will collapse within two years, a former exiled prime minister claims.
Mikhail Kasyanov served as the despot's PM between 2000 and 2004 before being ousted and forced to flee Russia.
He said he "very much doubts" the warmongering leader will follow through with his Doomsday plans.
With his troops continuing to flounder in Ukraine, Putin announced yesterday a partial mobilisation of reserve forces.
The Russian President said he wouldn't hesitate to use weapons of mass destruction against Kyiv or the West.
Kasyanov, who this year fled to an unknown location, believes the disastrous invasion of the former Soviet ally could soon spell the end for his old boss.
It is estimated 55,000 Russian soldiers have died in the seven months since Putin launched his "special military operation".
But anger is mounting in the country after he ordered the mobilisation of 300,000 reservists to fight.
Thousands of Russians have taken to the streets to protest, despite the risk of imprisonment.
Kasyanov told Channel 4 News: "In terms of mobilisation, it's not a bluff. In terms of potential use of nuclear weapons, I think it's a bluff."
He believes Putin plans to annex already occupied areas of Ukraine via sham referendums and declare them his own territory.
He explained: "He wants right now to blackmail the Western leaders, the whole of Western society.
"He wants to recognise, through these artificial referendums, occupied parts of Ukraine as Russian territory and to say to the Western leaders after that, 'Putin is ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russian sovereign territory'.
"But I very much doubt that Mr Putin will use nuclear weapons because he realises that for the Western leaders, that's the same, whether there is annexation and recognition, the nature of the war would not be changed."
The referendums are set to begin on Friday, with residents asked if they want to become part of Russia in the provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
The vote is certain to go Moscow's way, meaning Putin could absorb those lands in a matter of days.
But Kasyanov thinks the conscription campaign is a major domestic risk because it goes back on promises made to the Russian people.
He believes that and the heavy losses inflicted could sway opinion so far away from Putin that his regime may struggle to recover.
He said by the end of the year "there will be a completely different situation" due to the planned mobilisation, adding: "Mr Putin has already started the period of his end of his era."
"The military potential of the Ukraine army will grow and they will have a decisive advantage on the battlefield that will lead to the change of the situation and, as I think, to the collapse of the Putin's regime."
