It has long been speculated around the Russian president Vladimir Putins health. Among other things, it has been rumored that he would suffer from Parkinson’s and cancer. The Kremlin has denied a 72-year-old president would be ill.
– He (Putin) will die soon, and that is a fact, and then this will end, says Zelenskyj to The Sun.
But it is not that simple, according to the Swedish Radio’s Russia correspondent Maria Persson Löfgrenthere are a number of conceivable scenarios that could arise if Putin dies.
– If he (Putin) were to die then you probably won’t go out with it immediately, there is no given successor, but there is an elite around that will start a power struggle, and how it ends is impossible to say today, she tells Echo.
Margarita Zavadskayawho is a political scientist and researches on democracy issues at the Foreign Policy Institute in Finland, tells Aftonbladet that Putin’s death could lead to a military junta. This can mean a continued or even escalated conflict.
When a new leader takes over power, there is probably someone who follows Putin’s line, which probably means that the war in Ukraine will continue without major changes.
Zavadskaya also believes that it is unlikely that Russia would move towards a more open and democratic form of government after Putin’s death.