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Vladimir Putin has been labelled a "dead man walking" who should be "very careful" on his upcoming jet trip to China.
News of the Russian president's trip to China comes just a week after the death of Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a fireball plane crash with nine other people.
Rumours over Putin arranging Prigozhin's untimely demise have become widespread – and although the despot has declared those a "complete lie", the Wagner Group may not care.
READ MORE: Wagner Group Prigozhin's plane crash seen from above in eerie new snapshots of site
Professor Anthony Glees believes the president is a "dead man walking" as he boasts of playing a powerful poker hand, when the reality is a much bleaker, weaker future for Putin.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star, Professor Glees said: "Putin the ex-KGB Officer is playing poker, as he always does, pretending his hand is far stronger than it actually is, that every defeat was in fact all part of a carefully worked-out plan.
"It does not exist. He's a dead man walking."
Professor Glees believs the Russian leader is "weak" after not claiming the death as his own order.
He added: "In other words, Putin was too frightened and too weak to claim the credit for the killing whilst cynically hinting that it was bound to happen."
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Funeral for Prigozhin held 'behind closed doors' as rumours spread he's still alive
It comes as Putin's aims change and he turns his attention to NATO relations, which, according to Professor Glees, comes from visiting China.
He said: "What Putin wants now, just a few days after arranging for Prigozhin to meet his maker on 23 August, is for the world and especially NATO to see him as supremely powerful, calm and in full control of events.
"Going to China would send a signal that all was well for him in Russia."
But concerning developments over the death of Prigozhin could mean Putin is particularly wary of air travel.
Professor Glees added: "Putin will of course worry, desperately, about two things if he does go: first, that in his absence in Bejing, an opposing member of the Russian mafia will simply move into the Kremlin (after all, when the cat's away, the mice will play).
"Second, that his presidential jet could be shot down over the steppes of eastern Russia by Wagner group members who may have access to a Buk missile system amongst their arsenal.
"It was a Buk surface to air missile that shot down Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, having been given the order to fire by Putin himself on 17 July 2014."
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- Vladimir Putin
- China
- Russia
- Exclusives
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