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Former US general Ben Hodges said Vladimir Putin's reign as president could come to a dramatic end after his oligarch friends run out of cash.
Former US Army commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges spoke about how wealthy Russians who support Putin could end up turning against the tyrant if he refuses to stop the war in Ukraine.
At the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the United Kingdom and the European Union imposed strong sanctions on many of these oligarchs.
This stopped them from traveling and their assets were frozen, meaning many of their international business deals fell through.
Hodges says those sanctions, which are still in place today, could be a key factor in Vlad's downfall as tycoons continue to be frustrated by the restrictions.
"At some point the oligarchs, the inner circle, will get tired of all the restrictions on them, including wealth," he said, adding "at some point, they will say we can't send children to schools in London or Stanford".
"Then I think something can happen" , emphasizes the former general.
Sanctions against oligarchs were seen as a clever ploy to push some of them to turn against the Kremlin. Many of them were forced to struggle between preserving their national identity and supporting their friend Putin or condemning the invasion and leaving Russia.
Hundreds chose to support the war while hiding from the West. But after more than two and a half years since the restrictions, Putin continues to carry out daily attacks on Ukrainian soil.
Hodges says now is the time to keep the pressure on Russia and its rich and powerful individuals.
"We must isolate Russia diplomatically, economically, politically and militarily from the rest of the world. Then we have to punish them every time they do things. The defeat of Russia should be our strategic objective, which means that we will do everything necessary to achieve it", he says.
Another way Hodges thinks Putin could be dethroned is through citizen reaction.
In March, Putin emerged victorious with 87 percent of the vote in the presidential election — keeping him in power until at least 2030.
But if faith in their long-term leader begins to wane, then change could come quickly.
"You don't really see street protests in Russia like you've seen in Minsk in Belarus or even in Iran's capital Tehran.
You don't see that in Russia. And I think that at some point this will change", he says.
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