Former secret intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who ran the Russia desk at MI6 believes the Ukraine war will end with Vladimir Putin being assassinated.

Speaking to Sky News’ Beth Rigby the former MI6 spy believes there is now no way back for Putin as he is “too far down the rabbit hole.”

Steele believes the Ukraine war will only end once a peace deal is made which excludes Putin and could then see him kicked out of the Kremlin.

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Steele told Rigby that a peace deal with Putin will be “one of the big problems that the West is going to face going forward.”

He added, “I don’t see how we can trust Putin in any sort of peace deal that comes now, and I don’t see how we can deal with him in terms of normal business going forward.

“After all, the President of America has called him a war criminal.”

Rigby asked Steele how he thinks the conflict will could come to an end if peaceful negotiations are scuppered by Putin as he is so far down the rabbit hole.

Steele replied, “I think it does end in a deal of some sort, but I think that that deal is some way off and I think it probably doesn’t include Vladimir Putin.

“I think he may well be pushed aside out of the top leadership, or even possibly assassinated by his own people.”

Steele warned that “we’ve gone over a watershed” now that Putin cannot come back from, the former spy added, “I can’t believe he can be rehabilitated in the international community and that’s a big problem for us going forward.”

Rigby said, “It also means he has no incentive to stop fighting.”

Steele agreed, adding, “Unless of course, they start losing on the ground.

“One of the remarkable things about this situation now is that it does look as if the Russian army, at least in some areas, is being defeated.”

'Putin may be pushed aside out of the top leadership, or even possibly assassinated by his own people'.

Former MI6 officer, Christopher Steele, says a future peace deal with Russia will probably 'not include Putin'.#RigbyInterviews https://t.co/X3flQUBL0r pic.twitter.com/cVhRKkXCDK

— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 31, 2022