How does Russia get rid of Putin?
Efforts to depose Putin would require either active or passive support from three key organizations — the military, the FSB (successor to the KGB) and the National Guard (“Rosgvardiya”). Putin has firm allies in place in all of these institutions. FSB Chief Aleksandr Bortnikov belongs to Putin’s Leningrad/St. Petersburg clan of former KGB officers and is a direct protege of Putin and National Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev, who Bortnikov replaced as FSB chief in 2008. The FSB has its own special troops and a vast network of counterintelligence officers to watch over the military.
Although Putin seems to have his bases covered, the fates of Beria and Khrushchev have shown that loyalties can shift when the Kremlin is in crisis. Bortnikov could conceivably become another Semichastny and switch camps to save his own skin. Even Shoigu and Zolotov, faced with a coalition of Putin’s opponents, might consider jumping ship, just as Beria’s lieutenants did. But one thing seems certain: Any coup attempt against Putin would probably be the most perilous, high-risk operation in Kremlin history.
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