Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to conflate the survival of his aging personal regime with Russia’s survival as a great power—but even dictators die, and Russia will endure long after Putin is gone, writes the historian and Stalin biographer Stephen Kotkin. What that Russia will look like, though, is an open question. In an essay in the forthcoming issue of Foreign Affairs, Kotkin lays out five different scenarios for a future Russia—and what the United States should do no matter what happens. “Washington and its partners must not exaggerate their ability to shape Russia’s trajectory,” he writes. “Instead, they should prepare for whatever unfolds.”
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