And if he doesn’t, where does this end?
“And if he [Putin] doesn’t, where does this end?”
IMO, the least consequential, the Russian people/Kremlin/ White Russians/China will remove him one way or another from office.
The story I heard for achieving dictatorship (like Stalin, Hitler, or Putin) to gain power is akin to: walking up to another human being, driving your thumb as deep into their eye socket as you can get it. Then, you kick that person again and again before shooting them as they beg to know why.
Without checks on power, killing your way to the top is the way ambitious dictators emerge.
Putin will finally realize he doesn’t rule the world.