This is the real problem with Russia; as much as the civilized world loathes Vladimir #Putin, the sad, troublesome truth is that he could disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow, along with his entire kleptocratic regime, and #Russia would STILL be a significant problem for its neighbors and the civilized world because of its malignant national culture. Look at the significant effort the West had to undertake, for decades, to transform German and Japanese malignant cultures after World War II: In those cases, the West was able to successfully eradicate Nazism in Germany and imperialism in Japan because the Allies were the victors and occupiers of those two countries after the Second World War. By contrast, when the Soviet Union finally collapsed under its own weight in 1991, Communist Party leaders simply tossed aside their party pins, threw on business suits, and overnight became "managers". Over time, the shrewdest and most unscrupulous in Russia became billionaire kleptocrats. After 1991, there were no arrests, no Nuremberg tribunals...nothing. No one was held accountable for 70+ years of communism. Neither the West nor Ukraine is going to occupy the Russian Federation (or what's left of it) after this war ends. That means the task of finally coming to grips with the past, and with all the poisonous aspects of their culture, is not going to be imposed on Russia by victorious foreigners. Instead, that is going to be a task for the Russian people to do THEMSELVES. But here's the problem: For the past 23 years, Putin's authoritarian regime managed to drive all serious political opponents into exile, jail them, or very publicly kill them (as a lesson to other foolhardy souls contemplating political reform). So who is going to LEAD this necessary oncological procedure, to eliminate the malignant cancer that has infected Russia's national culture for centuries? When Putin finally goes, I suspect there will be one or two interim figures before Russia finally gets a leader who has a shot at righting the ship. But who will that person be? Whoever it is, that person will certainly have a tough road ahead of him (or her).