[Zhang Fei]

There’s also his 400,000 man Praetorian Guard:

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2017/05/03/why-putin-needs-a-praetorian-guard/

Note that Ramzan Kadyrov the Chechen terrorist is one of the key men in that palace guard unit. Given the way Praetorians have traditionally had first dibs on leadership transitions, if Putin dropped dead, Russia might get its first Chechen ruler, courtesy of Putin. Heck - a Chechen almost ended up replacing Yeltsin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruslan_Khasbulatov

[Mr Ramsbotham]

There’s also his 400,000 man Praetorian Guard ....

As the Roman Empire demonstrated, a Praetorian Guard is a fine thing, until its leadership starts getting uppity and decides it wants a role in choosing the Emperor.