[nrser]

Whether they respond with process and patience or not, I’m hard pressed to think of powerful states that abide “f*ck yourself” once they’ve started to think national interest/security.

[patrickaljord]

> they’ve started to think national interest/security

More like Putin's interest/security.

[p2t2p]

Finally! As a Russian who immigrated recently I’m endlessly tired of Russia this, Russia that. There is no Russia. There is Putin and Putin only.

[konart]

Putin is just a face of FSB. You or they can remove him any time - nothing will change simply because of this.

[y_molodtsov]

It definitely change, although I can't say to which direction. He makes the system legitimate, so any successor would have either to be more open and earn some political trust in a normal process or just close the country even more (deploy martial laws, etc.)