Russia might be like ‘North Korea on steroids’ when Putin is changed

Economist and previous Kremlin consultant Sergei Guriev on Friday cautioned that Russia might end up being like “North Korea on steroids” when President Vladimir Putin is changed, stating the existing political system would likely collapse when a brand-new leader takes the reins.

His remarks come ahead of the funeral service of the Soviet Union’s last leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Saturday.

Putin, who paid his aspects to Gorbachev at the Moscow medical facility where the 91- year-old passed away on Tuesday, will not go to the service.

Putin is understood to have had a stretched relationship with Gorbachev, who introduced sweeping reforms that eventually resulted in the fall of the Soviet Union.

Speaking to CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy, Guriev stated it was very challenging to anticipate what may occur when Putin is ultimately changed as president.

“Regimes like this change in very unpredictable ways,” Guriev stated. “It’s very hard to predict what will come after Putin. The reason for that is Putin has built his regime in a way nobody can replace him.”

“He built the regime in a way that without him, the system will not function. People around him don’t trust each other, sometimes hate each other, so if he is gone the system will change somehow,” he stated.

“So, probably initially it will be some kind of ultra-nationalist guy or military junta, but it will not last for long exactly because the system is built around Putin. And eventually, I think the system will collapse,” Guriev stated.

“It could be months, it could be several years, it could be North Korea on steroids, who knows? But it could also be a situation where the system collapses and somebody who wants to rebuild the economy reaches out to the West,” he included.

The Russian Embassy in London and Russia’s Foreign Ministry were not right away readily available to comment when called by CNBC on Friday.