Russia is mired in political intrigues. The hitherto inconspicuous politician Mikhail Mishustin now practically wants to become the second candidate for the presidency of Russia in the upcoming elections.

This was told to Channel 24 by ex-KGB officer and Russian foreign intelligence service Sergey Zhirnov. He noted that Vladimir Putin has never been distinguished by rationality, and his current decisions prove this.

It is known that the Russian budget deficit reached $34 billion in two months. Information has appeared that now Putin can eliminate the head of the Russian government, Mikhail Mishustin, return Dmitry Medvedev and make a rotation with Sergey Lavrov.

To this, Zhirnov replied that the Kremlin leader could take any step.

He's suicidal, everyone knows that. He is not a rational person at all, because, if he were rational, he would never have decided on this war, or stopped when he began to clearly lose, when the economy began to die, – the speaker noted.

“Playing for Putin”

It is interesting that Putin has an argument for such personnel changes, Zhirnov said. After all, according to the Russian constitution, Mishustin is the person who will replace Putin as president if something goes wrong. The prime minister must replace him within three months, and during this time organize new presidential elections.

In general, no one looked at Mishustin as a politician. He is a technocrat, he is an absolute official in terms of the depth of the apparatus. Therefore, everyone said that this person, probably a passing figure, was not interesting, in general, he was just doing chores. He sits on the farm while Putin is engaged in politics, the expert added.

Unexpectedly for everyone, Mishustin entered the media space and there he began to “play like Putin.” Zhirnov recalled a well-known video where he plays the piano, and a few years before that, a similar video appeared showing Putin playing the piano.

“The fact that Mishustin suddenly sat down at the piano in a public space revealed his completely different incarnation. That is, he became the second person to join the presidential campaign in 2024. The first, of course, was Prigozhin,” summed up the ex-KGB officer.

Zhirnov on internal processes in Russia: watch the video

Discord grows in the Russian government

• During a speech by the speaker of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, at a recent forum with so-called Russian journalists, PR people, businessmen, she actually confirmed that there is now a struggle in the inner circle of the Kremlin.
• ISW analysts have concluded that there is a struggle going on in the Kremlin between key members of Putin's inner circle.
• Earlier, Russian opposition politician Igor Yakovenko said that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is completely out of touch with reality. Yakovenko recalled that Putin mainly played the role of the so-called “watchman” between different clans within Russia. Now he seems to be literally losing control of everything.