Putin Downfall Speculation is 'Wishful Thinking': Former British PM

Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss has urged Western allies to provide more, and more powerful, weapons for Ukraine, and not to bank on a mass uprising, palace coup, or mystery illness to bring down President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking with Newsweek on the sidelines of the Copenhagen Democracy Summit in the Danish capital on Monday, Truss warned against putting too much stock in widespread reports of Kremlin infighting and grievances among the Russian elite related to the disastrous invasion of Ukraine.

"I think there's a lot of wishful thinking going on," Truss said. "Of course, we all think it's an appalling regime, but I wouldn't bank on anything happening in that respect."

Foreign hopes of a sudden collapse of the Putin regime have so far proved unfounded, regardless of the reported discomfort within Russian elites and the vicious public struggle for influence between influential oligarchs and Kremlin officials.

Putin has used his war to further suppress dissent at home. Thousands of Russians who marched against the war—and later against the "partial mobilization" that followed Moscow's early battlefield defeats—have been imprisoned, with some reportedly forced to the front. Hundreds of thousands more have fled the country.

Opinion polls—inherently unreliable in a totalitarian state where dissent carries a high cost—indicate a mix of popular sentiments regarding the war, but most surveys show little sign of an imminent anti-Putin wave.

While journalists and analysts debate Russia's future, Ukrainian officials say they are focused primarily on the battlefield, not Kremlin corridors of power. Truss told Newsweek that Kyiv's Western partners should also focus on the ongoing battles that will determine where, when, and how the conflict ends.

"In the longer term, of course, I would like to see Russia headed in the right direction and become a freer, more democratic country," she said. "I think that's a very long-term project."

"I believe the Ukrainian people will never give up," she added. "I think the resistance to the Russian invasion is so strong that I don't believe it is possible for Russia to have any kind of long-term success in Ukraine. I think the question is, how do we prevent as much human misery as possible by ending this war as quickly as possible? I think that's the question."

Modern weapons—including more main battle tanks, Western-made fighter jets, and long-range missiles of all types—are, Truss said, "the only way to end it. Because if there was a situation where there were concessions, that would not end the war, that would simply embolden Putin. And we've seen that before with what happened in 2014. It has to be pushing Russia out of Ukrainian territory."

Truss—who on Wednesday will travel to Taipei—said the outcome of Russia's war on Ukraine will have a direct impact on Chinese President Xi Jinping's calculus in Taiwan, which the Chinese Communist Party has repeatedly said it intends to absorb into the People's Republic of China by any means necessary.

In her short and eventful time as prime minister, Truss took an aggressive stance against Chinese influence in the U.K. and abroad. Truss had planned to officially label China a "threat" in a review of the British national security strategy, but was forced to resign from her post before she was able to do so.

"This is a battle of ideas," Truss said of China's plans to assert itself. "It's an attempt to embed a different way of life that is antithetical to freedom and democracy, not just in China, but more widely."

"My concern at present is democracy and freedom are not necessarily winning that battle of ideas. And that's why I think it is so pernicious what is happening, and why I think we collectively need to do more to fight that battle."

"I don't think it's inevitable that China will win that battle, but I don't think it's inevitable that they'll lose either. I think it is hanging in the balance. I think that is different from the situation we see with Ukraine."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Chinese foreign ministries by email to request comment.