Prof. Mark Galeotti, British expert on Russia and a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, spoke to journalists of the Polska Agencja Prasowa, on the possibility that Russia would become a democracy at some time in the future.
Initially, Galeotti commented on the results of the Russian presidential election. He said that Moscow wanted to show that Putin got more votes from the previous elections, because they are currently in a time of war. Their goal is to create a narrative that the Russian people are united. We know that they are not.
Putin could have faked the election in a sophisticated and cautious manner, or in a brazen way. He chose the blunt path, it is estimated that up to half of the votes he received may not be legitimate votes."
When asked about the percentage of Russian citizens who are supporting the war in Ukraine, Galeotti said it could not be quantified in a real way, but he estimated that about one quarter of Russian citizens support the war and one quarter completely oppose the war.
During the interview to the Polish news channel, Galeotti went on to say that he did not rule out a surprising scenario in the coming years, in which the Russian president will be removed from office, but even if he is ousted, we will not see a liberal-democratic Russia, at least not in the next generation.
Galeotti claims that Putin has not named a successor because he cannot allow any successor to be flagged. That would raise the question of Russia's existence after Putin and he cannot allow that to be a feasible thought.
Galeotti believes that we will see the same situation that occurred after Stalin's death. There will be many games and different decisions held behind the scenes, but one person will not be able to just take power. There will be some kind of coalition.