'Old Man Lies In Refrigerator'

'Interested "Kremlin towers" spread information about Putin's death.

On 23 October, a number of media outlets picked up the information about Putin's cardiac arrest. For the first time, this news appeared on the anonymous Telegram channel SVR General.It was reported that Putin allegedly "fell down in his bedroom, convulsing on the floor with his eyes rolled back". At the time of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, dozens of media reports speculated about Putin's illness. This may indicate that Putin is losing control of the situation, as such an image is not to his advantage.

This opinion was expressed by the vice-president of the Politika analytical centre, political scientist Oleg Lysny, on the FREEDOM TV channel. He also explained who benefits from rumours of Putin's death.

"There are many target groups here, and one of them was expressed by our GUR, that this is aimed at Russia in order to identify the allegedly undesirable and thus punish them. Because even in Russia you can get a real punishment for liking something. And there is also the version that this is a test to see how many opponents will appear on the eve of the elections. But it seems to me that both options are doubtful, because Putin has no opponents and cannot have any at this stage. Therefore, we should admit that there have been no elections in Russia for a very long time," the political scientist said.

He also suggested that other towers in the Kremlin are doing this without Putin's knowledge, trying to influence the minds of Russians to instil the idea that Putin is mortal, that Putin will die, so there is no need to take to the streets. "All these moments of death don't make him stronger. People see him as a decrepit old man who occasionally lies in a refrigerator and then comes out or doesn't come out. This suggests that the Tsar is not real. Does Putin need this?That is a rhetorical question," said the guest on the programme.

Lisny believes that Putin is beginning to lose control. That's why situations like this arise, and if this is what's happening in the entourage, then the pogrom in Dagestan is just the beginning.

"What would happen if Putin really did die? First of all, we would have heard about it from foreign intelligence services, they monitor everything and they have agents very close to Putin.

If he really did die, the change in power would be noticed. They would not leave him in the fridge, they would just do it very quickly because there are a lot of contenders and you have to run to the royal chair first and take it rather than play long games until someone bypasses you," says the political scientist.

At the same time, he believes that Putin's death will not stop the war in Ukraine.

"It will not change the RF at this stage, there are still people like him there. Russia is not run by Putin, but by the collective Putin. So we should not relax because some people have the illusion that he will die and everything will be fine. No, we must fight," concluded the political scientist.