US General Ben Hodges, former commander of US forces in Europe, has predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be ousted by his own people in a given moment.
In an interview with The Sun, Ben Hodges said that the end of Putin could be very “dramatic” because at some point the Russian oligarchs could run out of money. Wealthy Russians may turn against Putin if he refuses to stop the war against Ukraine.
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western countries imposed a number of sanctions against Russian oligarchs. Hodges says those sanctions, which remain in place today, could be a major factor in Putin's ouster as tycoons continue to grow frustrated with the restrictions.
„At some point the oligarchs, the inner circle, will get tired of all the restrictions on them, including on their state. They will say to themselves: “I cannot go to see my lover on the Adriatic. I can no longer send my children to school in London or Stanford”. And that's when something will happen (with Putin)”, said Ben Hodges.
The American general indicated that Russia must be isolated even more from the rest of the world in order to stop its war against Ukraine. “We must isolate Russia diplomatically, economically, politically and militarily from the rest of the world. Defeating Russia must be our strategic goal, which means doing whatever it takes to achieve it, Hodges said.