The one problem with this, that I see, is this: What will Putin do, what sort of desperate measure, will he undertake in order to remain in power? We have heard that, in the after math of the collapse of the Berlin Wall/Warsaw Pact, that the Soviet high command was considering initiating a nuclear war in order to maintain their command and control over the WarPac. What would Putin, or what will Putin, do in order to maintain power? I would think that his enemies within the corridors of power in the Kremlin would want him dead, and they would go a fair distance towards attaining that goal. So, Putin would go further to foil their prospects.
Would Putin launch nuclear missiles--the only part of the Soviet/Russian armed forces that still works?