Putin preparing to name bodyguard who ‘saved him from being eaten by a bear’ as successor

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. Vladimir Putin is considering naming a former bodyguard who once saved his life as his official successor, a Pulitzer-winning Russian journalist has predicted. The dictator, 72, is thought to be mulling over a power-sharing agreement with Alexei Dyumin, 52, who once saved the Russian president from being eaten alive by a brown bear according to legend.

But should the move go ahead, the pair will immediately draw up plans to prepare Russians for yet another war ‘because they have nothing else to offer the people’. The chilling prediction comes from Roman Anin, exiled founder of the independent Russian investigative website Important Stories. Unlike many analysts, he believes Putin will not rule until he drops dead but is preparing a handover under which he remains as a looming ‘father of the nation’ figure, his legacy and repressive rule intact.

‘The idea that Putin has no intention of leaving the presidency until his death is quite popular among some Russian and Western analysts of Russian politics,’ said Anin. ‘However, I find it difficult to agree with this for several reasons. “Firstly, Putin understands the structure of his regime better than anyone, in which power is divided among several powerful clans of his friends, KGB colleagues and judo sparring partners.

‘Throughout his 25 years in power, these clans have constantly competed for influence, resources, and, most importantly, proximity to Putin himself, who has acted as an arbiter in their conflicts.’. Putin has appeared to be in better health in recent months, as opposed to the early days of the Ukraine invasion when there were serious fears about his well being and videos appeared of his hands or feet shaking uncontrollably.

The Kremlin’s contingency plans all depend on Putin remaining alive, Anin explains. ‘The older he gets and the longer he postpones the question of power transition, the higher the risk that one of the clans will attempt to seize control before someone else does. ‘I think Putin understands this perfectly well and does not want a repeat of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny.’. Putin – who has ruled Russia as president or premier for more than a quarter of a century – remembers how Russia’s first president Boris Yeltsin transferred power to him ‘and undoubtedly considers it a successful experience.’.

The prominent journalist said: ‘In my opinion, Putin has already outgrown the presidential office. ‘His propaganda, the church, his inner circle, and various other lackeys have spent years convincing him that he is not just a president but the father of the nation, tasked with a sacred mission to save Russia and restore its former greatness. ‘And as a deeply narcissistic individual, he has willingly embraced this notion.

‘Putin has three advisors — Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great,’ Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said about him at the start of the war.’. Putin is eyeing such a father of the nation role in which he retreats from day to day administration but ‘hands down his will from his sacred pedestal, and his chosen executors implement it on the ground’. This is why he set up a State Council in 2020, a forum with powers over domestic and foreign policy  which he will one day lead after handing over to his chosen president.

Dyumin is the only person who meets Putin’s five conditions for a successor, said Anin. ‘It must be someone he absolutely trusts, someone who, upon receiving presidential powers, will not betray his benefactor,’ he said. ‘Secondly, the successor must piously believe in the infallibility of his idol and unconditionally fulfil his will. ‘Thirdly, he should not belong to an old, influential clan, as this could trigger factional conflicts.

‘Fourthly, he must have significant achievements in Putin’s eyes, both personally and for Russia (as Putin perceives it).’. Finally he “must embody the vision of Russia that Putin is shaping. ‘Given that Russian children are now indoctrinated  with the leader’s ideology from preschool — where “heroes of the special military operation” tell stories of how they defeated “Banderites” in Ukraine — it is clear that Putin’s future Russia is envisioned as a militarised dictatorship steeped in propaganda.’.

Anin is clear that ‘there is only one person in Russia who meets all these criteria — Putin’s former bodyguard, Alexei Dyumin’. As a bodyguard, he protected him in the Siberian taiga and made sure he ‘didn’t drown in the ocean’. He ‘carried out the most delicate assignments, and was ready to sacrifice his life for him. Putin trusts him completely.’. Dyumin secretly led the Special Operations Forces which in 2014 occupied Crimea.