😱David Satter: Putin senses end of regime! SECRET ORDER on war. Kremlin elite has rebelled

Added: 2026-05-03

[00:00:00]Putin is finished. The scavengers are already dividing his empire. Who will take the throne? We'll talk about this with David Sedar, journalist and historian, former Moscow correspondent.

[00:00:12]David, glad to see you and thank you for joining us.

[00:00:16]>> I'm glad to be here. Thank you, >> David. Um, I see that for the first time in years, the traditional May 9th, 2026 parade in Moscow will feature no military hardware. Furthermore, students from the Suarov and Mahimo military academics as well as Cadet Corpse will not march across Red Square.

[00:00:41]Putin's administration has already devised an accuse excuse for the absence of equipment at the victory day parrot.

[00:00:48]According to Mitri Pisc, the Russian dictator's press secretary, um the parade will proceed without military vehicles due to so-called terrorist activity from Kiev. If the world's second army is too afraid to parade its own tanks in its own capital, has Putin's image of strength officially collapsed into a theater of paranoia?

[00:01:13]This is a very important symbolic moment because we remember that not we're we're now talking about the uh about the victory day uh par parade but uh the one of the most important moments in the second world war was when Stalin ordered the uh revolution day parade after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union and many of the of of the troops who participated in that parade under threat of Nazi bombardment of Moscow immediately left for the front. This was at a time when German troops or the the the Naz the fascist troops were were massing for an attack on Moscow. And that that event, that parade uh is uh um is a historic event for for Russia and uh it was for the Soviet Union because it was a signal of their determination to resist the uh the uh the the German invasion. So the fact that now they are making changes to the to the planned victory day parade uh that is um that is a an act of of uh acquiescence uh to the military situation that will reverberate in in in Russia and will be noticed by absolutely everyone.

[00:02:55]David, um Putin used to host the world's leaders on victory day and now even the likes of Fitz won't show up. Flying to Moscow today means visiting a losing regime in a war of its own making. It's no longer an honor. It's a toxic stain.

[00:03:14]Uh we see also David Ukraine strikes on strategic assets into upset do more than just inflict significant economic and military losses. They are increasingly destabilizing Russia from within. Now these attacks um hit the interest of the elites and heighten inter regional intentions tensions gradually eroding Moscow standing as the center of influence. Uh so how do you think what will the political landscape of Russia look like following Putin's departure?

[00:03:47]Is there a plan B for the Russian elite and which figures are currently positioned for a transition of power?

[00:03:56]Your thoughts?

[00:03:58]>> Well, first of all, I think we should we should be careful about talking about a postputin period. We do we we uh we don't really know. Uh I I think that any any postputin transition will h will take place only well it's let's put it this way it's possible that any postputin transition will take place after a period of real terror uh during which time the entire internal political situation in Russia will be overturned and uh the there will be a breakdown of the regime.

[00:04:41]So it's it's it's to it's hard to to forecast a postputin leadership uh on the basis of the people who are in charge right now. Uh and uh so I think that um and the the repressive pos possibilities of this regime are are enormous.

[00:05:08]uh and the passivity of the population is pretty pronounced.

[00:05:13]Uh peop people in Russia are rendered passive by a number of factors. One of course is fear and another is conformity. But it's also the uh the their own great great power shogunism which makes them very vulnerable to to mendacious state propaganda.

[00:05:38]And all that has to be uh disrupted by by a crisis of the regime and a crisis of the war before we can talk about the conditions uh that could lead to you know the fall of the Putin regime and the uh accession to power of of a different set of people. But who those people would be?

[00:06:03]They could well be persons of whom we have no knowledge.

[00:06:08]Everyone with whom we're f is tied in one way or another to the regime. Uh and uh it ti tied to it uh financially, tied to it uh politically and tied to it in the sense that they fear for their own lives. uh this were repeated. It's a little bit this situation has some parallels to what existed in 1999.

[00:06:37]The people around Yeltson feared for their own lives. How did they react? How did the Yeltson entourage react? Well, they they they organized a terrorist attack against their own people. Well, the I'm talking now about the bombings of the apartment buildings in 1999 that brought Putin to power.

[00:06:59]Never have a Putin. No one would have ever heard of this character if it hadn't been for those bombings. Well, now you have a somewhat similar situation in the fact you have a lot of people dependent for their wealth, their their welfare, and even their on their connection to Putin. So they're uh you know dissident uh in that some are more dependent some are some are more sheltered but to expect a kind of dissident move uh in that uh is to expect a lot more likely uh the regime will will do what it's done in the past it will res in order to strengthen than its hold on power.

[00:07:51]And now uh that is in the long run is unlikely to work because it will intensify the crisis of the system uh leading ultimately to its breakdown.

[00:08:05]In the short run, it might succeed in in saving uh those people who have who who have dragged the world into this terrible war and who who whose interests are completely contrary to the interests of Iranian people but of the Russians.

[00:08:32]David and um you know um there is one very intriguing thought. Uh the collapse of the Russian Empire is inevitable yet it poses a new dilemma. Beijing stands ready to seize Russian lands as far as Lake Bal. Uh Putin clearly fears Russia's disintegration. But isn't the true nightmare that while he fights for Ukrainian villages, he's effectively rolling out the red carpet for China all the way to Siberia. Do you agree with this?

[00:09:05]Well, the r Russia is has fallen under the economic even political domination of China.

[00:09:14]This again uh is something I think that people often times don't don't assume that there's an identity of interests uh between Putin and you know even in a in a somehow defending Russian interests as he sees them uh that he has dreams of of of of Russia becoming a great power of Russia influenced the way in in the manner of Peter the great he's a traditional Russian leader instead of a traditional criminal uh but the reality uh you know a a real Russian leader who was concerned about Russia's Russia's interest would not allow Russia to fall underence and control of China to the extent that Putin has done. Nor would he have launched a war uh against Ukraine uh nation uh uh you know for for no purpose whatsoever.

[00:10:30]uh the the the the it's very hard for western western people to understand and I think even for people in in in Russia and Ukraine sometimes is that is motivating all of this is not any kind of dream of great power domination but rather the personal interests of a small group of nihilistic criminal leaders. ers and they're not going to be that worried about of influence of China if this if his own personal power I mean if you look at it g just from the point of view of traditional geopolitics Russia definitely natural ally of the west uh because uh it's in in in a union with the in alliance with the west. It has all the means necessary to counterbalance the China.

[00:11:42]But uh entourage doesn't think in those terms. They think in terms of their own interests contradict the interests of uh it's their interests and not the countries be important.

[00:12:00]>> David, you mentioned own interests and more about Trump. Trump is fundamentally uninterested in anyone but himself.

[00:12:10]Neither Ukraine nor Russia nor even America. It is about Trump's interest and those of his family. Every decision is uh driven by personal gain. How can one build a strategic alliance with the leader whose primary foreign policy compass is his own reflection and the state of his bank account? Uh what do you think uh your thoughts about u about Trump?

[00:12:37]Well, uh, you know, I'm here in America and of course we're we're watching this, uh, you know, I live in Washington DC and so I see I'm very much exposed, uh, what's going on. And I don't agree that everything can be explained in terms of Trump's personal interest, although that is a factor. I think that what is at stake is a a def de defective understanding of uh the role of a I what I think I see in Trump is a person who has just assumed of the New York real estate market can be applied to the whole world. He's not person. He doesn't read history or know history and he reacts instinct uh as if he were still in the real estate business. Uh and uh also uh uh uh very much affected uh likes and dislikes.

[00:13:52]I think that uh you know Trump has uh uh type of a a vision of what he wants to see in America. He wants to butction of a Philistine who thinks that uh you know America's greatness depends only on money and of uh and that and that principles in the world but only uh interests that can always be on the basis of superior wealth and superior force.

[00:14:33]uh this that has contributed to the lack of planning in the invasion of of Iran because uh if you're going to I mean in the attack on Iran, if you're going to launch a war against a country, you have to be ready uh for a the worst possible case, which is uh that you're left with no choice but to remove the regime. But to do that, you have to have all have to have an explanation for the population that's based on values.

[00:15:14]We neglected all or we I say we be the United States, but Trump Trump neglected all of that. He's very illprepared for the confrontation that he that he initiated. And it's partially because of his own provincial uh and and and blinkered outlook uh and hisism.

[00:15:38]Uh the uh the fact is that what happened in America what we see I mean Trump is the product of a deep American internal crisis and it which which is which he's a symptom of that crisis. He's not the cause of it. The crisis ca, you know, when the cold war ended, America turned inward.

[00:16:05]And when and internal internal issues are very divisive and strange to say because they're less important but more personal, they engender uh much greater hostility than disagreements over foreign policy. And those, you know, those internal disagreements magnified by the advent of the internet created a a a situation inside the country uh that's very toxic and it's exacerbated by the fact that no one in America really is is studying history and in particular the history of the communist period. This has just dropped out completely. Uh and as a result uh all of these questions like gay marriage, transgender rights, uh feminism, what happens to be that should not be the most climate change. It should not be uh the center of a country's political life have become the center of the political life because there's no understanding of uh of what are in dealing with totalitarian regimes and we don't understand it because we don't have the historical background and we don't try to we don't try uh it seems in when you consider that communis unism dominated the entire 20th century.

[00:17:42]The study of communism or awareness of communism is practically absent.

[00:17:48]So when you have that, when that awareness disappears in the academic world, in the intellectual environment, in the media, in culture, what takes its place are disagreements over transgender bathrooms, uh, which unfortunately have the capacity each other and they so-called identity issues have done that Well, one result is was the election of Trump. Trump is not someone who should have been elected to the United States.

[00:18:26]And even even he in in his his manner uh it's clear that he he he for those who are by the direction in which the country is going but not for the country as a whole.

[00:18:45]Well, you know, with this limited outlook uh uh applied to foreign affairs, uh you know, America is crippled and the world the and the civilized world is in danger, but uh we can only hope that the situation changes. We've got midterm elections coming up in November. They could put put a break to a certain extent on Trump, although as president, he's the one who makes foreign policy.

[00:19:14]The the problem is that the Democrats themselves have nothing to offer. They have no you know the the it's really has happened in the country is that you have the and Trump has made this statement that he loves the uneducated.

[00:19:32]Uh and he demonstrates all the time that he's one of them. But uh the reality is that you we have a a conflict in America between the uneducated who nonetheless have some elements of the half-educated who think they are educated but aren't are not really and who think that common sense doesn't matter. Well, that's a toxic situation and um and it's only only leadership that is able to, you know, to remind people of e of the values on which the country was founded. You know, we're having this 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. At the same time that we have a government that ignores the fundamental principles of that founding but uh a leadership which shows which understands that the that those values are faced by forces in the world which represent the total denial and destruction of those values and that has to be our first priority. you know, as that affects Ukraine, of course, it's uh it's the uh necessity to support Ukraine, which is at the present time defending those values on behalf of the uh and only asks for it doesn't ask they don't even Ukraine doesn't even ask for American soldiers just for for support.

[00:21:16]But um you know I'm I'm I'm hopeful that that we will find the resources the intellectual resources in the country to overcome our intern and once again play a positive role in the world but it it's it's it's not obvious.

[00:21:39]>> David and Trump had a meeting with the British king just recently. uh we all followed it with great interest.

[00:21:49]Politico has described King Charles III's reference to Ukraine in his address to the US Congress as a coded challenge linking western support for Ukraine to the response to the 11th of September 200 and one attacks. Political noted that British monarchs deliver their political messages in code and the reference we just heard Charles make to 911 is worth unpacking. The king said in the immediate aftermath of 911 when NATO invoked article 5 for the first time we answered the call together as our people have done so uh for more than a century shoulderto-shoulder. According to Politico, this was a carefully targeted rebuff to Trump and his allies in Congress. The outlet added that contrary to repeated claims by President Donald Trump in recent weeks, NATO did stand by the US in its most difficult hour. What do you think? What do you think about this message?

[00:22:50]that that that that kind that that that the US stood by Ukraine in its most difficult hour. Is that what you were you were saying earlier?

[00:23:04]>> Yes. Yes.

[00:23:06]>> And not only Yeah.

[00:23:07]the uh well the Biden administration did uh it didn't do it didn't do everything it could have done but by comparison with the the attitude of Trump uh you know by but I personally was surprised at at the extent the Biden administration's response and support for Ukraine bearing in mind the the attitude that he had expressed when part of the Obama administration.

[00:23:44]But uh you know Trump gets no credit for the actions of both I mean Trump Trump is is is not a gracious person and he he he he loses no opportunity to make remarks about Biden although it's simply not an issue anymore.

[00:24:07]Uh but he certainly for the for the assistance that Biden authorized for Ukraine to say that that military assistance saved you know was well first of all what saved the day was the resilience and the Ukrainians but in addition of course they you know the US did give give important support at that time for furnishing of the Javelin missiles which uh which in fact in his first in administration uh Trump approved.

[00:24:51]>> David, thank you so much for uh your support um support uh and um your professional thoughts. Uh David Sedar, journalist and historian, former Moscow correspondent was with us today. David um I wish all the best and you know for our audience David recalled the uh in our interview the apartment bombings in Russia. So in our upcoming interviews we will u dive deep into uh Razan Sugar North and other terror attacks within the Russian Federation. Stay tuned. You won't want to miss this. We will talk also more about support um for Ukrainian people. So David, um I wish you all the best as always and see you.

[00:25:39]>> Thank you Oia. Take care. Thank you.

[00:25:41]>> Thank you. Bye.