Russian leader Vladimir Putin is fearing for his own life unless he claims victory in Ukraine as he feels he is at risk of coup.
Putin ‘fears being hanged’ by his own people if he fails in Ukraine, so he is planning to escalate war.
He told sources close to him: ‘They are going to hang me’, a Kremlin insider told The Economist.
Sources close to the Kremlin have claimed Putin has chosen to escalate the war, fearing he could face backlash from the Russian public if he ends the conflict without being able to claim victory.
In an August 22 address, the Russian president accused Ukraine of opening a ‘Pandora’s box’ and threatened ‘blowback on the most sensitive sectors of your economy’.
Earlier that day, speaking to United Russia, the Kremlin’s ruling party, he dismissed suggestions that the war was coming to an end.
‘The special military operation continues,’ he said. ‘We will move only forward.’
