The former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said Vladimir Putin has exhausted himself as Russia's leader.

Gorbachev, who called on Putin to step down as protests against his rule grew in December, said the powerful prime minister could face a sustained popular uprising against his rule similar to those seen in Arab capitals.

"He has exhausted himself," Gorbachev said during a lecture at a Moscow university on Thursday. "If he does not overcome himself, change the way things are - and I think it will be difficult for him to do that - then everything will end up on city squares."