According to fresh intelligence, VLADIMIR PUTIN will be deposed in a “palace coup” planned by his close circle within the next two years.

As the war in Ukraine continues on and sanctions bite, even the Russian tyrant’s friends will perceive his “toxic” behaviour as a threat to their riches and power, analysts believe, and he will be deposed.

The assessment was provided by intelligence analysts Dragonfly, who properly foresaw Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

If the West tightens sanctions, they believe “it’s probable to very possible that President Putin will not be in the position he is within the next two years.”

However, rather than the mass movement that toppled Libyan tyrant Colonel Gaddafi, which he is reported to fear, Putin’s demise will come from inside.

During a briefing, Dragonfly stated that given the protection around Putin, such a rebellion or coup by spies and troops is unlikely to occur.

Putin’s destiny is instead in the hands of his inner circle of six friends, who include military, security, and commercial elites — “squat guys in ill-fitting clothes.”

They are Putin’s sole confidantes, and they have been unwaveringly loyal to him – until now.

Sergei Naryshkin, the director of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, Alexander Bortnikov, a former head of the FSB internal security service, and Nikolai Patrushev, the president of Russia’s Security Council, are among them.

Sergei Chemezov, the president of the state-owned defence corporation Rostec, and oligarch Igor Sechin, the head of the Rosneft energy conglomerate, are both members of the group.

Sechin’s £458 million yacht and Chemezov’s £140 million vessel were confiscated in Spain after the EU sanctioned them for links to Putin.

In Russia, these guys are known as “siloviki,” which translates as “men of force.”

All had prior experience working with Putin, either in the Soviet-era KGB security service or in the municipal government of St. Petersburg.

They are motivated by “currency and the opportunity to spend it, as well as the belief that the Russian empire is back, and that President Putin is driving that,” according to Dranonfly.

“The issue is what happens when Putin’s position no longer ensures the safety and financial stability of those around him.”

“Clearly, some of that is already taking place – the sanctions are unprecedented.”

According to intelligence experts, this inner circle, together with other oligarchs, and Putin have a “contract.”

“You may have your money and spend it at St Tropez, buy your big megayachts, and send your children to British public schools and Western educational institutions.”

However, the “really frightening situation” is if Putin’s activities render him “seriously toxic as a leader, genuinely jeopardising the safety and financial security of these folks.”

“The risk scenario for Putin currently is…he has very few other contracts to give the oligarchs and these individuals.”

“There’s absolutely little possibility that a counter offer of sending your children to high educational institutions in Beijing and vacationing in the Black Sea is as appealing as St Tropez or Oxford.”

Putin is concerned that as the battle carries on, the West will ratchet up sanctions to the point where Russia would actually suffer a financial catastrophe.

TOXIC PUTIN

This would include “elements inside President Putin’s Kremlin or the security services, or significantly, any of the six persons determining that he has become too toxic to their position and, as a result, is a threat to them.”

However, there will be no soldiers in war uniform on television “explaining that the President has become unwell and so on.”

“We’re more likely to witness a swarm of squat men in ill-fitting suits heading towards the Kremlin.”

“President Putin is then presented as being either unwell or needing to stand down for other reasons — family problems, for example.”

“And what we end up with is President Putin being deposed and replaced by someone picked from the same relative obscurity that he came from.”

Whether there’s change in the new leader’s attitude to the West is the “million dollar question”.