Fears of a Putin coup burst as the Russian autocrat ‘purges’ his closest buddy who’made him President’ in his latest war on ‘traitors.’

According to sources from Moscow, PUTIN has ordered the arrest of his close former aide and the father of “Putinism.”

Vladislav Surkov, a shadowy figure who placed a photograph of US rapper Tupac next to a portrait of Putin on his desk, is being put under house arrest.

Surkov, who is either 57 or 59 years old, was arrested as part of a large-scale criminal investigation that also resulted in the arrest of 150 Russian security personnel.

The case covers the alleged theft of nearly £4 billion by security agencies in order to establish an undercover spy network in Ukraine.

Surkov, Russia’s former deputy prime minister, is credited for keeping Putin in power by overseeing the country’s whole political apparatus.

He founded “opposition” political parties that were really controlled by the Kremlin, as well as Nashi, the Russian version of the Hitler Youth, who would beat up followers of the exact same parties.

He would meet with the chiefs of Russia’s TV networks once a week, advising them on who to attack and who to promote.

Surkov described his propaganda goal to the Financial Times in June of last year: “People require it. Most individuals require concepts to fill their minds.

“You are not going to feed people with academic conversation. The majority of individuals eat basic cuisine… In general, most people ingest beliefs with fairly simplistic meanings.

“This is very natural. There is fine dining and then there is McDonald’s.”

Surkov has previously urged for Russia to take not only Ukraine, but also Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and has pushed Putin to think that Ukraine is not a legitimate nation.

He was sacked in February 2020 due to alleged policy disputes in the Kremlin, but his detention looks to be just another sign that Putin is turning against his old pals.

His incarceration is thought to be related to the arrest of top security service official Col-Gen Sergei Beseda, who is now being imprisoned in Moscow’s infamous Lefortovo Prison.

Putin is said to be enraged by intelligence failures in Ukraine, despite years of expenditure to ostensibly assure Russian assistance in critical locations.

Buninskaya Alleya, a Russian news portal, reported: “According to a growing number of sources, Vladislav Surkov is being held in his home.

“Since 2014, reportedly in the case of misappropriation in the Donbas, investigative actions have been taken out.

“It was Surkov who was the Russian President’s envoy in Ukraine.”

Surkov is also a close associate of Chechen warlord leader Ramzan Kadyrov, whose presence in Ukraine has generated major schisms within Putin’s inner circle.

As a Lieutenant General in the Russian National Guard, Kadyrov has advocated that Putin attack all of Ukraine, often openly contradicting Russian government claims.

Surkov, dubbed Putin’s “principal ideologist,” served as the Russian presidential administration’s deputy chief of staff from 1999 until 2011.

He is credited with coining the term “sovereign democracy” to disguise despotism.

Surkov oversaw the first takeover of Crimea in 2014, after advocating for the protection of Russians living beyond the country’s boundaries.

He previously characterised the Russian world as “wherever people speak Russian and think like Russians, or where Russian culture is respected.”

Surkov also stated of Ukraine, “There is no Ukraine.” There’s a thing called Ukrainness.

“It’s a distinct mental disease.” An incredible ardour for ethnography brought to its logical conclusion.”

This is the exact justification Putin used to justify his initial invasion.

His arrest comes as accusations circulate that Putin is “preparing for a military coup” after expelling 150 spies in the aftermath of Russia’s catastrophic invasion of Ukraine.

As his planned invasion grows mired down in a quagmire, an increasingly paranoid Putin has been hunting for someone to blame.

He is thought to be frantic to achieve military triumph in time for Victory Day on May 9, one of Russia’s most important days, when an annual parade will be conducted in Moscow’s Red Square.

Boris Karpichkov, a former KGB spy currently living in exile in the United Kingdom, said Putin is “totally losing his mind” about the situation of the Ukraine war.

The 62-year-old ex-double agent told The Sun Online: “Putin lost the fight before it ever began, and it occurred a long time before this insane concept sprung into his sick mind.

“He was revealed to be a psychopath who was fascinated with obsessive thoughts and conspiracy theories about himself and non-existent threats. According to reports, Russia

“Putin lost the battle before he even started it – and it occurred a long time before this insane notion sprang into his sick mind,” the ex-double agent, 62, told The Sun Online.

“He turned out to be a sociopath who was completely fascinated with obsessive thoughts and conspiracy theories about himself and non-existent threats Russia reportedly faced from the rest of the globe.”