Putin ‘already grooming his successor’ as Navalny faces nine years in prison

VLADIMIR Putin has been grooming a successor, Ukraine’s spy chief claimed yesterday.

Kyrylo Budanov, who is head of military intelligence, said the Russian president had already run his eye over several favourites but had changed his mind.

‘Looking at some of his manic syndromes, he is likely to be afraid to seriously prepare a successor, realising that in preparation, this successor may want to take the chair a little earlier than Putin himself wants.

‘Therefore, he keeps everyone at a certain distance. And he believes that he will rule forever. But it will not be so. He has several serious illnesses, one of which is cancer.

‘But it is not worth hoping that Putin will die tomorrow.’

Mr Budanov also suggested Putin would be killed: ‘Look at the history of any dictator of the 20th and 21st centuries, they ended the same, absolutely all. In most cases, they died against their will.’

Potential successors include Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin and ex-president Dmitry Medvedev.

Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny yesterday lambasted Putin over his ‘stupid war’ as a Moscow court upheld his prison sentence.

Appealing unsuccessfully against a nine-year term for fraud and contempt of court, Mr Navalny used his court address via video link to deliver the stinging attack.

He said Russia was run by thieves and criminals but its leaders would ultimately be crushed by the forces of history and ‘burn in hell’ for creating a bloodbath in Ukraine.