Russian opposition leaders have begun plotting the end of Putin’s regime, and some believe it is now imminent. Nearly 300 Russian opposition politicians and activists gathered to discuss political changes in Russia in the European Parliament earlier this week, reports Guardian.

The Brussels forum, convened by four MEPs, was the first meeting where the Russian opposition came together and received official status from a European parliamentary body, as some begin to think about what a post-Putin Russia will look like.

The congress took place against the background of news about the destruction of the Novaya Kakhovka dam – the last dramatic episode of Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.

“This is the first time someone talks about the possibility of post-Putinism. Three months ago this was impossible. EU countries thought that Putin would be president for years and years, if not decades and decades… Now the perception has changed,” said Bernard Guetta, a French MEP who was one of the organizers of the forum.

Is it possible to destroy Putin’s regime after his departure from the Kremlin?

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was Russia’s richest man before he was jailed for ten years in 2003, said that simply replacing Putin with another person from his circle would not make a difference.

“This regime must be destroyed,” he said at the opening of the talks. “There is no other way to a normal, peaceful future for Russia, for Europe, and for the whole world,” he said.

The Russian opposition has been talking about regime change for years, so sometimes it can seem like delusion. Even after three months of war, Putin’s friends have reportedly turned against him and are talking about who should replace the current Kremlin leader.

But with the Russian military now on the defensive in Ukraine, attacks and military incursions inside Russia on the rise, and infighting within Russian elites reaching social media, some are beginning to question whether Putin’s place in the Kremlin is still all that secure.

What a post-Putin Russia would look like is still a matter of debate.

Andrius Kubilius, a Lithuanian MEP and former prime minister who was the main organizer of the conference, said there was still a perception among European politicians that real democratic change could take place in Russia, but he believed the debate was worthwhile. to hold it for the sake of Russia and Ukraine.

“If the major European capitals do not believe in the possibility of a democratic Russia, which, I admit, is not so easy to believe now, you think that either … the same regime will remain in power forever … or Russia will fall into complete disaster.” – said Kubilyus.

If Western politicians believe that a complete Ukrainian military victory will mean Russia’s collapse into an even worse dictatorship or civil war, “then they fear a Ukrainian victory,” he said.

The West is afraid of Ukraine’s victory

Armand Gochu wrote in an article for HotNews with reference to Western experts that the US is helping Ukraine not to lose the war, but also not to defeat Russia.

Goshu says that even if Biden, Sullivan and Blinken want to diminish Russia, they cannot imagine a world without Russia as a great power. So the biggest fear is not that Ukraine may be defeated, but that Poland or Romania will be on Putin’s menu after it.

Nuclear blackmail still seems to work, but only for the Western elite whose minds are played by Russian propaganda. The Washington bureaucracy fears chaos. The Western elite are both afraid of the unknown and too lazy to understand the world in which they live. Essentially, it’s a challenging exercise to rethink and rework plans.

Any post-Putin leader would be significantly weaker

Some conference participants left Russia more than a decade ago, while others left after Putin launched his invasion last February. They traveled to Brussels from Berlin, Vilnius, Paris, Tbilisi and many other cities that became centers of Russian emigrants.

Many participants suggested that the collapse of Putin’s regime was a matter of time, “when” and that it was bound to happen, adding that while the initial post-Putin era may involve the absorption of power by people from the inner circle, things could change rapidly soon.

“Any post-Putin leader would be much weaker in terms of legitimacy and public authority … the regime will try to hold on to power, but it won’t last long,” said Volodymyr Milov, an opposition politician who was a deputy minister. of energy at the beginning of Putin’s rule. “Then we have to put pressure on people to talk,” he added.

Russia will remain “brutal” and “vengeful” even if Putin is gone

Russia’s defeat by Ukraine in a war launched unilaterally by the Kremlin will not weaken NATO-Moscow relations, even if Putin is gone, but will leave Russia “cruel” and “vengeful”, the head of Britain’s air force said. (RAF), said at the end ), Mike Wigston, reports The Guardian.

Mike Wigston told The Telegraph that Russia’s air force, surface fleet and submarines pose a threat to Britain and NATO. He warned that the threats could even increase if Russian President Vladimir Putin is ousted.