"Putin's entourage offers him a gentle removal from power" - Piontkovsky

He shared his opinion with Espreso TV. 

"Putin has a path that is suggested to him by his entourage - a gentle removal from power, which was already discussed with him, and he was even almost ready for this before leaving for Samarkand. But there he was convinced that such a drop in his status in the international arena could push him, because not only we saw what was happening in Samarkand, but also the people from the bunker saw it. And he was afraid that his entourage would be able to offer the West that we are freeing you from Putin, and you are helping us to force Ukraine to offer some more favorable terms of surrender," the political scientist noted.

Andrey Piontkovsky explained that that is why Putin immediately escalated in four, or even five directions, if the attack on his generals, in order to burn all the bridges and deprive his entourage of the opportunity to find a more or less peaceful solution, is included. 

"The only way for him to save his life is to agree with his entourage that they send him for treatment to some "center of ancient Chinese medicine" and announce that "comrade Putin made a number of serious mistakes in the Ukrainian issue and we are now trying to fix them. This is his only chance for life," Piontkovsky emphasized.