A former Russian official warns that President Vladimir Putin could use nuclear weapons "just to show he is serious about them," the Daily Mail reported.
"You provoke [Putin] with all the talk of not provoking him," Boris Bondarev, who quit Russia's U.N. mission in May, told MailOnline. "At some point there will be a time when Putin will use something like nuclear weapons just to show he is serious about them."
Bondarev also said Putin could face a coup if Russia is defeated in Ukraine, which fell victim to Russian aggression on Feb. 24.
Bondarev told MailOnline that Russia's elites might "force him [Putin] to go to sleep and never wake up" if Russian forces are beaten back decisively by Ukraine.
"I think there are chances Putin could be forced from office," Bondarev said. "But first he must be regarded by his own people as a loser, as someone who lied and made them fools.
"They must see him as weak, and that will happen only if he is truly and widely defeated in Ukraine."
A worst-case scenario for Putin, Bondarev said, would be if the general Russian population learns that their forces were defeated.
Interestingly, Bondarev said Russian pro-war elites will not overthrow Putin, he because they know they can get what they want out of him.
"Pigeons and not hawks" will oust Putin, he added.
Even if pro-war elites did try to take control, Bondarev said, they will destroy each other in the process.
No matter who replaces Putin, Bondarev said history will repeat itself unless Russia’s government and society are transformed.
"[Russia] should be regarded as a very ill society ... totalitarianism is disease and Putin is symptom of that disease," he told MailOnline. "Russia must overcome this disease and recover from it. If you have a sick person you don't leave him be on the street so he dies, you help him to recover. Russia will require help after Putin.
"You hear people say that Russia ... is not our problem, you caused the war so it is your problem. That is understandable, but that is very dangerous notion.
"If Russia is left to its devices then in 10 or 15 years we may be facing the same problem we are facing today — Russia could end up as a giant North Korea."
The former diplomat added that the Kremlin has no interest in negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine because it will be seen as a "sign of weakness," especially because Russian leaders believe the West is "afraid, weak and not capable of fighting for Ukraine."
Bondarev said that talk among Western leaders of not wanting to escalate the war, only "convinces [Kremlin leaders] them they were right."
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