Hunched, with a tremor and a swollen face: Putin may be looking for a replacement/Getty Images
visual conclusion. Hunched over (looks more at his feet), with hand tremors (couldn't open the sheet of text for a few seconds), with a swollen face (I'm sure it's still made up as much as possible)…
I don't know what “greatness” the Russians saw in Putin, but it looks ugly. And this, by the way, can serve as a factor that encourages the Russian elites to look for a replacement for him. For they need a “strong tsar”, and not this one.
Putin is out of shape
Even in Soviet times, the general secretaries of the Politburo, as soon as they lost their physical form, burned out very quickly – Andropov died at 70, Chernenko at 73. True, the Politburo did not let Brezhnev, who had a stroke and twice asked to resign, for three years, because could not understand the internal intrigues. Until he died.
But in those days it was easier to keep an information picture – it was enough to publish editorials in Pravda and Truda without letting Leonid Ilyich, who without the papers could not say anything to the people. And now everyone is demanding daily confirmation that Putin is still alive. Yes, and Yeltsin's dismissal occurred when he began to lose physical shape and this could no longer be hidden.
Replacement for Putin
Today, the world was shown a sharply aging grandfather. Without the former enthusiasm and without the former greatness. I think the timing of the parade was shortened precisely for the same reason, so that the main character could physically endure it.
Therefore, I am inclined to the scenario that the question of replacing Putin is already brewing in his environment. It's just a matter of timing. It will be up to a year or a few months. We would, of course, sooner…
