Kenneth Glad
An exiled opposition voice has stepped forward with claims of an underground network inside Russia. Its size, strength and ability to act remain unclear.
A movement calling itself Black Spark claims it is building a hidden anti-Kremlin network in Russia and argues that President Vladimir Putin will not leave power peacefully.
According to the Daily Mail, the group says it includes business figures, anti-war activists, lawyers, engineers, IT specialists and people with combat experience. Those claims could not be independently verified.
Its public representative is Igor Volobuev, a former Gazprombank vice-president who left Russia after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Born in Ukraine’s Sumy region, he later aligned himself with Ukraine and became a public critic of Putin.
Black Spark rejects talks with Kremlin
Black Spark describes Russia’s war in Ukraine as “our shame and our crime.” It says replacing Putin alone would not solve Russia’s deeper political crisis.
“The empire itself – Russia’s greatest curse – must collapse,” the group states in a manifesto cited by the British newspaper.
Volobuev alleged that some people close to Russian power no longer trust Putin’s leadership.
“The people surrounding Putin understand something very simple, figuratively speaking: ‘Akela has long since missed,’” he said, referring to the aging wolf leader from The Jungle Book, a phrase often used in Russian culture to describe a leader who has lost his grip. “Everyone sees it. He cannot hit any target any more.”
Its reach remains uncertain
Volobuev claimed Black Spark has supporters in influential circles, including people linked to Gazprom. He also denied that the movement is an FSB trap or a Kremlin project.
“I was given compelling evidence that this movement was truly powerful,” he said, according to the Daily Mail.
The group says Russia’s oil industry is one of its main targets because energy revenue helps sustain the Kremlin’s war effort. There is no public evidence confirming the group’s ability to target the sector.
The newspaper further reported that Black Spark has fewer than 3,000 Telegram followers and about 1,500 followers on X.
Russia’s system may endure
The claims arrive as analysts continue to question whether Russia would truly change after Putin, or whether the machinery around him would keep operating under another leader.
The Foreign Policy Research Institute argues that any successor would inherit a state shaped by security services, elite rivalries, sanctions, war spending and nationalist political culture.
That means a change at the top might alter the Kremlin’s public tone, diplomatic style or internal balance of power, without necessarily dismantling the structure Putin built.
In that reading, Russia’s future would not be decided by one departure alone. The institutions, incentives and networks surrounding the presidency could continue to protect the same hard-line system.
Black Spark presents the opposite conclusion as a call to action, arguing that gradual transition is unlikely.
“There is no scenario where Putin simply leaves,” Volobuev said. “He can only be overthrown by force.”
Sources: Daily Mail, Foreign Policy Research Institute
