Pocket Ninja: And it's being reported in the Sun, so this will totally happen. Maybe as soon as tomorrow.

Anything from the Sun should be taken with a massive grain of salt.

While there may or may not be something going on with Pooty's inner circle, The Sun will be there to exaggerate all of it to unreal proportions.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if someone was plotting something. Putin had surrounded himself with yes men, too terrified to give him honest assessments for years. Then, he ignored the obvious signs that Ukraine was preparing for this since Crimea in 2014, and then Donestk/Luhansk afterward. And, while it's certainly his prerogative to be concerned about NATO at his doorstep, he seriously underestimated the resolve of "the West," however he conceives it, to call him on his BS.

Oligarchs are losing money, men of conscription age are trying to flee any way the can (seriously, the images look like that scene at Helm's Deep in The Two Towers, just with alcoholics), and now the army is losing ground and infrastructure. Somethings got to give, and I would imagine everyone is fed up to some degree.

cSquids: The article was written like a celebrity breakup story.

It's The Sun; calling it an article is generous. Story is a bit closer, though fear-mongering clickbait would be more accurate.