RUSSIAN president Vladimir Putin “is finished now” after losing control to factions within the Kremlin, according to Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry.

He told GB News: “My sense is that you have to view Russia as a mafia state. And so you have to judge it through the lens of Mafia rules.

“I get the distinct impression that Prigozhin was Putin’s praetorian prefect, he was there to protect him against the military and other factions in the Kremlin.

“And somehow Prigozhin got it into his mind that actually factions in the Kremlin had taken over control of operations and decisions. And I’ll say to you now that I think Putin has actually lost power in the Kremlin.”

In a discussion with Angela Rippon on GB News, he continued: “It’s not as a result of this action. I think he’d lost it beforehand. Prigozhin detected that and, believe it or not, Prigozhin was projecting the line that he was going to save Putin from sort of evil counsellors and this familiar pattern in Russian history.

“The march on Moscow was not against Putin as such but against I think the people that are likely to succeed Putin and the manoeuvring around him.

“Even now, I don’t think Putin is in control anymore. I think that the factions that seek to take over from him are in control, and he was put out in front to deal with Prigozhin and I think we’ll see that dynamic play out.

“Putin is finished now, and I think he’s just a puppet.”

He added: “One of the things we have to prepare ourselves for now is dealing with a very disparate, very divided Kremlin.

“I don’t believe Putin is actually making the decisions and that is really dangerous.”