ONE of Vladimir Putin's key aides and a favourite to succeed him has reportedly survived an assassination attempt, a Kremlin insider has claimed.
Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Russian security council, has been described in some circles as the only person that Putin truly trusts.
The 71-year-old is claimed to have been poisoned, according to sources in the Kremlin.
"It is known that Nikolai Patrushev felt unwell in the evening after work, almost immediately after he went home," the source claimed.
"Security quickly worked, immediately calling a team of doctors to him.
"After the examination, the medical workers who arrived said that urgent hospitalization was necessary and Patrushev was taken by the FSO officers in their transport, accompanied by medical workers, to the medical unit that serves the president."
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The source added: "After rendering assistance, Patrushev was taken home in a stable condition. The results of his analysis confirmed that the toxic substance was a synthetic poison."
These sensational allegations appeared anonymously on the General SVR channel on the messaging app Telegram, which claims to have insider sources in the Kremlin.
"Information about both the assassination attempt itself and the investigation into this assassination attempt is kept in strict secrecy," the post added.
Patrushev, who formerly headed Russia's FSB secret service, is seen as Putin's right-hand man, having known the 69-year-old since both were in the KGB back in the 1970s.
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He is believed to have stepped in as de facto president during Putin's long absences for alleged medical treatment and has also been a key architect of the war in Ukraine.
His son Dmitry, 44, Russia's agriculture minister, has been tipped by some pundits as Putin's likely successor.
The report claimed that Patrushev "was saved by timely medical care and, probably, by an insufficiently high concentration of the poisonous substance that entered the body through the skin".
Putin was told of the alleged attack only "when Patrushev's life was no longer in danger," it was claimed.
The post didn't list any suspects who could have carried out an attempted assassination but pointed the finger at in-fighting within the Russian leader's inner circle.
Patrushev is seen as one of the biggest cheerleaders for war in Ukraine, and the man who convinced Putin the country needed "denazification".
WHO ARE THE SILOVIKI?
FROM the Russian for ‘people of force’, meet the siloviki – the real power behind Putin’s throne.
Alexander Bortnikov – Head of Russia's FSB – which replaced the KGB, he has also known Putin since the 1970s, when both served in the Leningrad KGB. He controls thousands of people, covering everything from counter-terrorism to intimidating opposition parties.
Sergei Chemezov – Head of state-owned defence company Rostec, Chemezov was stationed with Putin in East Germany in the 80s when both were in the KGB. Has become filthy rich through his ties to Putin, amassing luxury yachts as well as a number of Spanish villas.
Sergei Naryshkin – Head of Russia's foreign intelligence service. Reportedly ex-KGB, he has worked with Putin since the 90s, when the president was deputy mayor of St Petersburg. Earlier this year, he accused the West of being behind Alexei Navalny's poisoning.
Nikolai Patrushev – Head of Russia's security council, Patrushev has known Putin since his KGB days in the 1970s. Is accused of masterminding the 2006 assassination in London of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.
Igor Sechin – Considered Putin's "de-facto deputy", Sechin is head of state-owned oil firm Rosneft. He was gifted the powerful company by Putin, just before it took over Yukos, a company controlled by now-exiled Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Sergei Shoigu – Russia's defence minister, he regularly goes hunting and fishing with Putin. Is seen by some as a potential successor. Following the disastrous Ukraine invasion, he was not seen in public for more than a month, sparking rumours he had been sidelined.
The date of the alleged attack wasn't given, but Patrushev hasn't been seen in public for much of the past month.
He was spotted on a visit to the far east of Russia on July 6 but then remained out of the public eye until Friday, almost 10 days later, when he supposedly attended a security council meeting.
Last month, an ex-CIA insider claimed the coup to topple Putin has "already begun".
Former CIA Moscow station chief Daniel Hoffman claimed Putin's cronies will look to secretly overthrow the president if his invasion of Ukraine starts to go south.
"These guys that are going to do it are going to be so secret about it so that Putin doesn’t find them and kill them first,” Hoffman said.
"It’ll happen all of a sudden. And he’ll be dead.”
"Nobody’s gonna ask, 'Hey Vladimir, would you like to leave?' No. It’s a f**king hammer to the head and he’s dead. Or it’s time to go to the sanatorium," Hoffman told The Daily Beast.
The results of his analysis confirmed that the toxic substance was a synthetic poison
It follows claims from security experts back in April that Putin could be ousted in a "palace coup" within the next two years.
The assessment came from intelligence analysts Dragonfly, who correctly predicted the Russian invasion in February.
It claimed that it is "highly likely that President Putin will not be in the position he is within the next two years," as Western sanctions bite.
Dragonfly alleged Putin would be overthrown by his inner circle of six cronies – including Patrushev – described as "squat men in ill-fitting suits".
A shadowy group of so-called "silovarchs" has propped Putin up for many years, according to intelligence experts, but their patience is believed to be wearing thin.
The word silovarch, combining the word oligarch and "siloviki" – which translates to "people of force", refers to the generation of Russia's political and business elite who rose through the security services.
And as Professor Daniel Treisman who coined the term explained: "If there is a failure of the state to manage multiple escalating crises, involving public protests and an economic meltdown, the Kremlin may well just lose control of Russia, and the security services would step in.
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"Army leaders and others may start resisting orders from Putin as well.
"Rather than an organised conspiracy from within, there may simply be a meltdown of the regime all at once."
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