Ukraine Intel Official Says Putin Survived Assassination Attempt Two Months Ago – Opinion

Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine Major-General Kyrylo Budanov claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin survived an assassination attempt in the Caucasus region two months ago, while other reports indicate that the strongman has resorted to “carrying a suitcase with nuclear codes” to deter further plots.

Claim Putin ‘survived assassination attempt’; veteran Russian diplomat quits over ‘intolerable’ Ukraine war https://t.co/MUtY24zACH

— Independent.ie (@Independent_ie) May 24, 2022

You should take the assassination attempt claim with a grain. It comes from an official at Ukraine’s intelligence agency and may indicate misdirection.

Budanov stated the claims in an interview. Ukrainska PravdaAccording to a Ukrainian media outlet on Monday, the attack was attempted after Ukraine’s invasion had begun. According to The Week:

There was an attempt to assassinate Putin… He was even attacked, it is said, by representatives of the Caucasus, not so long ago. These details are not public. [It was an] Absolutely unsuccessful attempt, but it really happened… It was about 2 months ago. This attempt failed, I repeat. Although there was not much publicity, it did take place.

Ukrainska PravdaIt was also mentioned that the longer interview would be published on Tuesday. However, as of today, it is not.

According to reports, Vlad fears assassination and carries nuclear codes around with him in order to disarm any potential plotters. British television newsman Jeremy Vine stated to his panel.

…apparently, he’s carrying around a briefcase with the nuclear codes in to try and deter people from assassinating him because he could go look, I’ll launch a nuke on the world if you dare to even attempt it.

That’s reassuring.

Putin has been a victim of assassination attempts before. He claimed that at least five were reported to him in an interview with Olive Stone.  Some are described in this article by Australian news website news.com.au

• Russian intelligence foiled a plot just before Russia’s 2012 presidential election.
• After being told to kill Putin by Islamist Chechen rebels, several people were taken into custody in Odessa (Ukraine),
• On the same day as the 2008 Russian Presidential Election, a Tajik spyer was arrested and tried to kill him.
• Reports also suggest that suicide bombers considered attacking Putin while on a 2007 trip to Tehran, Iran.

Some rumors are already circulating about a possible coup.

Putin’s top security officials believe ‘the war is lost’ and a coup is a realistic possibility, Russian analyst says https://t.co/Ba9W9NPp6t

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) May 19, 2022

Russia analyst Alexey Muraviev thinks that if a coup were attempted, it would come from within Putin’s military and intelligence services. He said that the coup could be because they are trying to win war and not stop Ukraine’s aggression. “I think that there have been tensions between Russia and the intelligence community and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin,” he explained.

Adding to Putin’s woes, he’s also faced health rumors recently, with speculation that he has blood cancer or another disease.

A war going badly, assassination attempts, coup rumors, and health concerns… All in all, it doesn’t seem like it’s much fun being Vladimir Putin these days.