Do we know what Putin’s plans are or we just guessing bc the West thinks everything has to be done quickly?
I don’t think it’s complicated. Putin says what he wants tells his resources to go do it, but sometimes it doesn’t go according to plan. He said he wants greater Russia back, and has been working on that for the last decade. Russian nationals have colonized many of the former Soviet republics like the baltics, Central Asia, Nistria, Georgia, etc. I think he’d have a hell of a time on his hands if he tried to go re-take the islamic or turkic republics like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia (Kyrgyzstan), Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Tsjikistanis are iranian.
Trying that again after Afghanistan imho would get the federation president very quickly involuntarily and permanently retired.