Dictator Rising: Former Russian Spy Unloads on the Danger of Vladimir Putin

MOSCOW – A former Russian spy is warning that his country is slowly sliding toward a dictatorship.

A household name in Russia, 61-year-old Gennady Gudkov is under regular surveillance by the country's security services. He's banned from talking to Russian reporters and can only give interviews to international news agencies.

One recent evening, CBN News joined him for a game of pool at his villa outside the capital city of Moscow.  

We talked about a number of subjects including Russia's involvement in American politics and specific interest in Donald Trump.

"As is known, even the hackers, supposedly connected with the Kremlin, tried to hack, or even succeeded at hacking, Hillary Clinton's email, in order to help Donald Trump," Gudkov told CBN News. 

"That is why Russian mass media created, in my opinion, an absolutely unreal image of Trump as a pro-Russian person and a politician who will open a different page in the history of relations between our two countries. I think the Russian establishment and Russian people will soon give up these illusions."

Putin's 'Absolute Power' over Russia

The conversation also turned more serious with his warnings about the Russian president.

"Putin, as a leader, has absolute power over our country and he intends on exercising that power as long as he has the strength, the health and the capabilities to do so."

He says anyone who tries to subvert that power, speak against it, or challenge it, in any serious way, faces a precarious future.

"Putin's regime has transformed from a soft autocratic regime into a tough one. I've called the current situation we are in today in the country as totalitarianism."

Putin's Early Years

Gudkov was elected to Russia's parliament shortly after Putin became head of state in 1999. He witnessed Putin's political rise up close.

"The first years of Putin's rule were positive. We were facing a lot of serious problems as a country and he was able to overcome many of them."

Former KGB Agents

Gudkov and Putin have more in common than just politics. Both are ex-KGB agents, with Gudkov rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel after 20 years of service.

The former spy turned politician soon emerged as one of the Russian parliament's most vocal critics of Vladimir Putin.

Gudkov says as president, Putin turned power hungry and used his KGB experience to go after political enemies.

"There's no viable opposition party, no serious political competition to speak of and no means by which to change that through parliamentary elections. His power is protected by different methods, including repression."

Consequences for Speaking Out

Concerned that he was becoming too powerful, Gudkov started challenging Putin's presidential powers and encouraged Russians to rally against him.  

On September 14th, 2012, he paid the price for his actions. The parliament expelled Gudkov after he called on the president to give up power.

"We are not at the point yet, but we are getting close to living under a total dictatorship."

Critics 'Ending up Dead' for Challeging Kremlin

One in which political opponents, journalists and others, are "smeared in the news, imprisoned on trumped up charges" or as the New York Times puts it, "end up dead" for challenging the Kremlin.

That includes Putin critic Boris Nemtsov.

On February 27, 2015, Nemtsov was gunned down on a bridge overlooking the Kremlin. Five men, including several Russian security officers, are on trial for his murder.

But many, like Ilya Yashin, a close friend of Nemtsov, fear that whoever ordered the killing will never be brought to justice. He sees the trial as just window dressing.

"We have to continue this fight against the current political regime," Nemtsov, a Russian opposition activist, said. "Otherwise, Boris Nemtsov gave his life in vain."

"Russia without Putin!"

Yashin recently led a rally in Moscow marking Nemtsov's death.

Gudkov also joined him and thousands more who showed up to commemorate the two-year anniversary. Many chanting "Russia will be free!", "Russia without Putin!"

"Nemtsov was a person who, among very few in this country, sacrificed his political career and eventually sacrificed his life so that this country wouldn't slide into that abyss that it is sliding into right now." said Mikhail Orlov, a march participant.

An abyss that Gudkov says is riddled with political and economic challenges.

"People are tired of Putin's rule," Gudkov told CBN News. "There is vast amounts of accumulated mistakes, rampant corruption and huge economic problems."

Among those marching in the crowd was Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader and presidential candidate.

"I'm standing in the election, because we want to build a new opposition," Navalny said. "Now, of course, it is hard for it to exist. It is under pressure. People are being killed."

18 years after his first foray into politics, Gudkov says Putin's control on power is firmer and stronger than ever.

And he warns that Vladimir Putin's form of governance will eventually spell doom for Russia.

"This model of irremovable authority, nomenklatura bureaucratic authority, destroys a country," Gudkov said. "The effect of Putin's regime will be catastrophic for the country. I don't exclude the possibility that it will result in a revolution, civil war and possible armed conflict."