Putin is trying to resurrect a long-dead empire, and the Russian people just aren't into that anymore.
Putin is trying to build the Soviet Union 2.0.
It’s imperialism, yes.
Schizo Putin also ignores the abysmal birthrates for real ethnic Russians. It is too low to sustain the Russian Empire Putin wants to resurrect. Putin is just another delusional old fart who wants to bring back his past glory. In Putin's case, Russia's past imperialist empire glory/
Hopefully he dies of cancer soon.