Vladimir Putin prevented three conspiracies during his rule

Russian President Vladimir Putin prevented three conspiracies during his administration and removed people who could threaten his power from leadership positions. This is stated in the investigation of the “Project” publication. It is unclear whether these were real conspiracies, but Putin apparently perceived them as such, the publication notes.

Mikhail Kasyanov was the first person Putin removed from office due to suspicions of a conspiracy – in 2004, he was dismissed from the post of prime minister along with the entire cabinet. This happened shortly after Kasyanov came out in support of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. According to “Proekt”, the real reason for the resignation of the prime minister could be Putin’s suspicion that he might try to take his place.

The publication notes that, after Kasyanov joined the unsystematic opposition, Putin began appointing “conspirators” to high but non-public posts. So, for example, shortly before the 2008 presidential elections, Putin removed Mikhail Fradkov from the post of head of government and appointed him to head the Foreign Intelligence Service. According to “Proekt”, this happened after Fradkov, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, and then Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Igor Sechin discussed the possibility of coming to power – Putin learned about this from transcripts of their private conversations with officials. Ustinov was subsequently removed from his post and appointed head of the Ministry of Justice.

The publication calls Putin’s return to the post of head of state in 2012 the last prevention of the conspiracy. Since 2008, the post of President of Russia has been held by Dmitry Medvedev, and, as “The Project” notes, at some point he “began to make independent decisions” that Putin did not like. At the end of the summer of 2011, Putin told Medvedev that he was returning to the post of head of state, but promised that after six years they would change places again. However, in 2018, Putin went to the polls again.