A few months after the next presidential election in Russia, Vladimir Putin can begin to sweep the liberal-democratic part of the Russian establishment.

This opinion was expressed to the "Observer" by the military expert Oleg Zhdanov.

"After the elections, a real oprichnina will begin. He will begin to clean out the liberal-democratic part of the establishment, not analyzing - these are state officials or just oligarchs. He will start to strangle everyone. He will have to establish a more rigid dictatorship in the country, so that there will be no dissent. Then the rule will be: "Leap in place - a provocation, step aside - escape," he predicted..

Zhdanov admitted that such processes will not begin immediately after the election, and a little later - after the holding of the World Cup in Russia.

At the same time, he remarked: "It is not known how events will develop. January 29, the first sanction list will be made public, on February 6 - one more. The US also does not want revolutions and wars. They want to force the elite to change the political course. For this it is necessary to change the leader ".

"A leader understands this perfectly well. I believe that he is fully prepared to strangle this elite, "Zhdanov said..

"Is this elite not its support, not its" muscles "? "- asked the" Observer ". "His muscles are" cooperative "Lake", or "bunker". As you remember, the Russian elite was divided into two parts: "junta", or "committee of national salvation", which included two-third of the oligarchs, and "bunker" - he replied.

"He will not go further" cooperative ". His hope and support are the armed forces plus Rosgvardia, "the expert is convinced.

In this context, Zhdanov added: "Today the Russian armed forces are actually stretched over a string. Putin can not even react to the events in Syria, because there are not especially forces and resources for the army. But Rosgvardia is fully prepared for an internal war.

As I understand it, it was completed in full ".

"You do not suppose that the security forces will go over to the side of the" junta "? "- asked the" Observer ". "No. The history of all revolutions shows that, as a rule, the siloviki go over to the side of the insurgents, when the dictatorship begins to fall. When the dictator is cornered, when in the streets barricades, when Molotov cocktails are flying, everything is burning and the dictator does not understand what to do next, "Zhdanov assured..