If you haven't seen Adam Curtis' Hypernormalization, I'd suggest taking a look at it before reading the rest of this post. One of the claims he makes is that in the late Soviet Union, people began to suspect that mariskova, the puppeteering involved in domestic statecraft was a front for he nothing behind the state. And Stratfor, the private intelligence firm makes a convincing case that Russia will not only collapse, but the implosion of Russia is accelerating. Falling birthrates, poor industry, other factors are involved, its not important.

One suspicion I've developed after looking at tons of population density maps of Russia is that Putin is not actually in control of Russia now either, and his constant strongarm tactics is an effort by the remnants of the state to hide this. You can go ahead and see that Astana is a better focalpoint for control.