Putin's Replacement Will Likely Be Nikolai Patrushev, Ex-MI6 Chief Says

Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, could replace Vladimir Putin as the country’s president, former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove has predicted.

Speaking on a Thursday episode of the podcast "One Decision," Dearlove said that Patrushev would most likely replace Putin as he is one of the few officials said to have the Russian leader’s trust.

"I'm almost certain it would be Patrushev," Dearlove said in the episode "Russian Oligarch on the Run."

Dearlove, who served as head of the U.K.’s Secret Intelligence Service from 1999 to 2004, previously predicted that Putin would likely be placed in a sanatorium in 2023 amid rumors he is suffering from severe health issues, including cancer and Parkinson’s disease.

"I’m really going to stick my neck out. I think he’ll be gone by 2023. Probably into the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as leader of Russia," Dearlove said earlier this year. He added that Patrushev, who was once dubbed as "Kremlin Hawk" by POLITICO, would serve as a stand-in as Russia's president and would probably become permanent.

“If my thesis were fulfilled and Putin did disappear into a sanatorium, I think he’s the likely stand in,” he said. “And of course the stand in this scenario probably becomes permanent. I mean, you know there is no succession in the Russian leadership. They certainly don’t succession plan.”

A Kremlin spokesperson dismissed rumors that Patrushev’s role has changed and brushed off suggestions that he may have amassed new powers, according to The Washington Post.

The outlet reported that Patrushev has stepped forward to "promote Russia's war aims" since the invasion of Ukraine began in February. In April, he predicted that Ukraine would likely disintegrate into several states due to the efforts of the Americans to "instill hatred" against Russia in Ukrainian citizens.

Patrushev and Putin have a friendship that dates back to the time they both served in the Russian KGB. Patrushev joined the service in 1974 and Putin joined a year later.

Both Russian figures have also served as heads of Russia's domestic security service FSB. It is said that both Patrushev and Putin once ordered FSB officials to bomb a nine-story apartment building in Moscow and another apartment building in Volgondosk in 1999. The attacks, which killed up to 300 residents, were later blamed on Chechen terrorists, giving Russia a pretext to launch a war on Chechnya. The war helped Putin secure the presidency in March 2000.