What are Russia's plans for a post-Putin future?

[Bryan_Ekers]

@dropzone

Face it: Dude’s 62, a classic Type A who ignores the advice of others, including (I assume) doctors,

Yeah this clown should slow down, live less brisk.

Putin is at risk.

[dropzone]

When you hit sixty Death stops tip-toeing starts sending regular reminders that eventually you will be his. Despots and the nations they lead should make plans.

[Timchik]

@Gyrate

If he died now of a heart attack or getting eaten by a tiger or something, it’s possible Zyuganov might make a play for the leadership, but Zyuganov is 70 years old himself.

I think it more likely that Medvedev would become the figurehead for Russian leadership whilst a furious power struggle ensued behind the scenes. Whether Medvedev then retired to his new Crimean villa or stayed on as lapdog to the new leader would depend on who won.

There is exactly zero chance that Zyuganov would become the next president. He may actually have beaten Yeltsin in the 1996 elections, but for the past 15 years he and his party, along with the three other so-called “in-system” opposition parties, have been decorative fig leaves for Putin’s Potemkin democracy. They may occasionally huff and puff, but in the end they reliably vote for whatever United Russia tells them to.

Of Putin’s current cronies, the most likely to come out on top would be Sergei Ivanov (Head of Presidential Administration, former Defense Minister, Security Council Head, Deputy Prime Minister etc. etc.) or Sergei Shoigu (Defense Minister, former Emergency Situations Minister), although the Medvedev figurehead scenario strikes me as plausible (and the most conducive to move to reconciliation with the West and the removal of sanctions).
Other contenders would include Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev and Rosneft head (and possible Sith Lord) Igor Sechin.