Khrushchev wasn't ruthless enough so the party didn't feel threatened by him. He was sort of like Gorbachev but he didn't want to change the status quo. Gorbachev knew that the status quo was failing so he attempted to overhaul it and the rest is history.
Sounds like Putin is looking to have one more victory in this world. He can annoint the first WOMAN leader of Russia. “Take that you US pukes”” We beat you again. /sark
https://www.aol.com/news/russia-ukraine-war-latest-nato-141504898.html An interesting report on a major NATO exercise in the Baltic Sea with many participants.