Putin Could Be Replaced by More Extreme Leader, Former U.K. Spy Chief Warns

The former head of Britain's MI6 intelligence service has predicted Vladimir Putin will be replaced as Russian leader by somebody even further to the nationalist right.

Alex Younger, who was MI6 chief from 2014 to 2020, made the comments during an appearance on the BBC's Newsnight show on Tuesday.

Speaking to presenter Kirsty Wark, he said: "Putin, and this is the great irony, is in danger of being outflanked by the very political constituency he created. The chauvinistic, nationalistic, arguably fascistic right-wing that was his support base and is now castigating him for not going far and hard enough.

"These measures [partial mobilization], which he didn't want to introduce because he knows how counterproductive they could be, they're entirely for a domestic audience designed to neuter that aspect of the politics."

Wark then asked: "If he was to be cast aside in some way, it might suggest there would be someone else put in who actually was further on the right?"

Younger replied: "Yes, so we need to be very careful what we wish for here. I personally think in due course that is what will happen, he will be replaced, but he will be replaced by critics from the right."

Putin announced partial mobilization in Russia on September 21 to support his invasion of Ukraine, marking the first time Moscow has imposed any kind of mobilization since the Second World War.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the aim was to draft 300,000 men with former military experience, though there have been widespread reports of people with no military background being conscripted.

On September 30, Putin signed "accession treaties," annexing four Ukrainian regions into the Russian Federation, following referendums that were dismissed as shams by Western leaders.

The Kremlin came under increased pressure from nationalist hardliners in September, after Ukrainian troops won a decisive victory by forcing Russian forces from the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

In late September, Igor Girkin, a leading Russian far-right nationalist with 581,000 followers on social media platform Telegram, suggested Shoigu should be executed by firing squad over Russia's failures on the battlefield.

Girkin called for the use of tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine, arguing this would "drive 20 million refugees to Europe."

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed strongman leader of Chechnya, has also called for Russia to use a "low-yield nuclear weapon."

Dmitry Peskov, Putin's personal spokesman, responded to the criticism in September.

He warned: "The people are consolidated around the decisions of the head of state.

"As for other points of view, critical points of view, as long as they remain within the law, this is pluralism, but the line is very, very thin, one must be very careful here."

Any Russian citizen who refuses to fight in Ukraine, having been drafted, could face up to 10 years in prison.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.