Prigozhin seeks to remove Putin from power – former head of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee Mussayev

He told this to Antin Borkovskyi, host of the Studio West program on the Espreso TV channel.

"On the one hand, it's a complicated question, but on the other hand, the picture is very correctly drawn of what is happening in the Russian elite. Of course, the situation can change at any moment with the suspension of Prigozhin, with some kind of perturbations within the army environment itself. All these factors can change the problems in an instant. But the general trend, I think, is that regardless of Putin's desire, he will seek to remove him from power and transfer power to the group that has been described as "Patrushev's group," Mussayev said.

The former head of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee believes that not only Patrushev, his son, or the Russian FSB structures are under the influence of this group, but also very serious "underwater" units: "They have quite a lot of opportunities to both eliminate this Prigozhin and elevate him to the highest position."

"Prigozhin has a strong personality, he knows how to speak, he knows how to attract patriotic people, how to unite them around him, a lot depends on Prigozhin himself. That's why Putin is no longer able to remove him right now; he can't come to the GRU and give Novichok fans some kind of command. Or he can give the Chechens a direct order to remove Prigozhin, bypassing all structures. This is absolutely beyond his power. And when all these structures are themselves, as they say, up against the wall in a situation of expected deep political and military defeat, the threat of direct physical removal of Prigozhin is very unlikely. I would assess it that way," Mussayev added.

• Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov tried to disrupt the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the initial stage. The officials' plan was for the Russian army to be defeated in the southern direction and for the campaign to end in Russia's defeat by March 5, 2022.

• Patrushev also claimed that Russia was not allegedly at war with Ukraine, but was opposing NATO.  

• Earlier, Prigozhin recognized the deaths of 20,000 Wagner soldiers in the battle for Bakhmut.

• Yevgeny Prigozhin has enlisted the support of one of the most influential people in Russia, Igor Sechin, the head of Rosneft and a longtime FSB associate of Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev.

• The founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced the beginning of the withdrawal of units from Bakhmut. By June 1, the positions will be handed over to the Russian Defense Ministry.