I think after Putin, he gets replaced by another hardliner. Most likely somebody from FSB (formerly the KGB).
Best case for Russia is a quick coup replacing Putin.
Very real chance it will go much worse than that. Putin has let the war in Ukraine be outsourced to series of warlords (Prigozhin, Kadyrov) with their own private armies.
If the center plug fails, expect those armies to begin the battle each other for their slice of Russia.
You may be right, but those folks are becoming pretty old to
carry the weight of running a nation. The years are catching
up to all of them.
As for hardliners, there must still be some around as they
still don’t allow open elections any better than our 2020.
I get the feeling they still have 80-90% lopsided elections,
but I may be way off base on that. Putin is still around.
This is his 19th year.