Putin will go the way of the Tzars? BS.
If he goes, he’ll be replace by a real hard ass.
Of course Putin will never go the way of the Tsars.
The last Tsar, Nicholas II was a weak ineffective fellow who had never been elected. Putin has been elected several times and he has sky high approval ratings. And he is much, much tougher.
Hopefully a more mentally stable hard ass.
—”If he goes, he’ll be replace by a real hard ass.”
The most likely case.
The SOP for Russian leaders is to select a replacement that will guarantee ZERO investigations into their dealings and a nice quiet dacha, provided they stay out of site.
And the new “leader” needs to have the juice to hold up the agreement.
IMO best case is for Putin to have a bad accident and survive requiring 24/7 assistance and survive for many years seeing the damage he has done to Mother Russia.
His health care staff in the best Soviet tradition will pretend to work as they receive a pretend paycheck...