In Russia, there is not yet even a hint of the appearance of someone who can replace Vladimir Putin as president - his power is still strong even despite the setbacks in the war in Ukraine, his rating is high and there are no opponents who can remove him from. The only factor that seriously threatens Putin's power today is the Ukrainian army.. This is stated in the article The New York Times.

“Which is easier to imagine: Vladimir Putin suddenly announces an end to the war with Ukraine and withdraws his troops, or Russia without Putin, which will reconsider its policy, stop the war and begin to build relations with Ukraine and the West on a new peaceful basis.? Difficult to answer. The war in Ukraine is largely the result of Putin's personal obsession, and he is unlikely to voluntarily agree to end it.. Which leaves another possibility: Russia without Putin, with all hopes for a peaceful Russia, associated with a change of power in the country. This also seems unlikely,” the article says..

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The publication notes: Putin's rating is high, despite the military failures in Ukraine, and his two likely successors - Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and opposition leader Alexei Navalny - have no chance, since one is bound by loyalty to the president, and the other is in prison.

The NYT writes that there are no manifestations of real opposition to the current dictator in the power circles of Russia, because he skillfully manipulates officials through corruption, allowing them to build corruption schemes and thereby keeping them on the hook..

" The ruling class, which owes their wealth to their position of power, is facing a new reality: their property in the West has either been confiscated or sanctioned – no more yachts, no more villas, nowhere to run. For many officials and oligarchs close to power, this means the collapse of all life plans, and in principle it can be assumed that there is not a single social group in Russia more dissatisfied with the war than Putin’s kleptocrats. But there's a catch: they traded their political agent rights for the same yachts and villas.. This is the underlying intrigue in Russian domestic politics.. Putin's military escapade has had a devastating effect on the lives of the establishment elite he has always relied on.. But elites who depend on power for their wealth and security find themselves unable to say no to Putin..

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Also, there are no protest moods either among the middle class or among the common people - they are either afraid or blindly believe in propaganda..

The only thing, according to the authors of the NYT, that can now become a real threat to Putin's power is losing the war against Ukraine..

“The factor that today seriously threatens the power of Putin is the Ukrainian army. Only losses at the front have real chances to change the political situation in Russia, as evidenced by Russian history.. After the defeat in the Crimean War in the middle of the 19th century, Tsar Alexander II was forced to carry out radical reforms.. The same thing happened when Russia lost the war with Japan in 1905, and perestroika in the Soviet Union was? largely a failure of the war in Afghanistan. If Ukraine manages to inflict significant losses on Russian troops, a similar process may unfold, the American edition concludes..

“And yet, despite all the harm done, it seems that such a turn is still far away.”. Now and for the foreseeable future, Putin is in charge of Russia - and the fear that without him everything will be worse..

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Recall that ZN. ua also published a text stating that the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian front will largely determine the alignment of forces in the Russian authorities. Read more about this in Vladimir Kravchenko's article "