Do you believe they have fair and free elections in Russia? In reality popular uprisings mostly end in failure. They only succeed when the security apparatus flips. Putin has spent years promoting sycophants. The Russian general staff are not there because they are brilliant officers. Putin constructed a National Guard, answerable only to him, not the defence ministry. Ultimately that's his Praetorian Guard. When Wagner was absorbed into the Army, music to his ears, because now you have army officers making money out of war. Wagner hasn't gone away; there are still Russian military contractors around the world, only now, they are in the Russian Army. The Romanian revolution was going nowhere until the Army flipped. Same in Iran. But the Hungarian Uprising failed. Prague Spring failed. Arab Spring failed. Those supporting Putin inside aren't that concerned about rising cost of fuel. They might be concerned about their investment plans in Crimea. Early on, Russian oligarchs were taking over hotels in Crimea. There was this idea about making it a high end destination. Handy Western Youtubers were there saying how great it was. They've lost all that investment. The Russian government is a kleptocracy, a den of thieves, and thieves will turn on each other eventually, like rats in a barrel, but with nukes.
