Coup To Overthrow Putin Already Under Way: Ukraine Military Head

A coup to remove Russian President Vladimir Putin from position is already underway, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence chief.

Speaking to Sky News in an interview published Saturday, Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said plans of a coup that would remove Putin as the president are already in progress.

"It will eventually lead to the change of leadership of the Russian Federation. This process has already been launched and they are moving into that way," Budanov said in the interview. "It is impossible to stop it."

Russia has seen poor military performance, low morale and a struggling economy since Putin first announced the invasion. As of Sunday, Ukrainian forces have killed about 27,400 Russian troops nearly three months into the war, according to estimates from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense.

Adam Casey, a postdoctoral fellow at the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies at the University of Michigan, also previously told the Business Insider that all the grievances that lead to a coup in Russia are in place. However, Casey also noted that Putin had spent decades making his regime invulnerable from a coup.

On the other hand, Gordon B. Davis Jr., a former deputy assistant secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) defense investment division, dismissed talks about a possible military coup against Putin, adding that he does not see it happening anytime soon.

"It’s tough to talk about the credibility of such a likelihood," he told Sky News in a separate interview. "I don’t put a lot of credence right now into the rumors."

Talks about a coup in Russia come as the war in Ukraine stretches into its third month. So far, Russia’s efforts to take over Ukraine have stalled, with about a third of its ground combat force lost in the battles. Additionally, the Russian invasion has faced stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces and suffered from logistical issues.

Members of the Russian army have also refused to fight in the war, with some refusing to obey the orders of military leaders.

"Russia's war in Ukraine is not going as Moscow had planned," NATO’s security general Jens Stoltenberg said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

President Vladimir Putin tells a Victory Day parade he had no choice but to send troops into Ukraine to defend the Russian 'motherland' Photo: SPUTNIK via AFP / Mikhail METZEL