Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power may not be as firm as it appears in the wake of prompting his entire cabinet to resign en masse this week, according to officials and analysts who monitor Kremlin politics. Putin jettisoned Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, sacrificing a longtime loyalist with a bad reputation in an apparent attempt to protect his own political image.

“It seems that Putin is not as powerful and not as certain about his power in Russia as it seems to be,” a Baltic diplomat told the Washington Examiner. “He feels vulnerable.”