I've got a couple of friends who are well-known Russia analysts, and have been chatting with them for a while about this. The end result of the vote is not in question. The problem with Putin is that he is a fucking clever and crafty motherfucker with rock hard abs and a calculated machismo.

That translates into his morphing into the Czar-like god-head he projects to keep the core slavering over him, and keep the fringes scared, while running incredibly subtle and effective dezinformatsiya campaigns across Europe, the US, South America, and lots of the Pacific Rim. The reach of his data services - hacking, disinformation, political polarization - is absolutely unrivaled. But also obvious to anyone with any security experience/access.

So everyone who would normally DO SOMETHING about him, knows exactly what he is doing, and how he is doing it, but has their hands ties by the dipshits who are in power and love Strongman Putin.

When Russia falls - because it always does - and all this comes to light, it's going to make for a LOT of interesting reading and history-book editing.