I don't have a good read on the average Russian's opinion of Putin but I think a major risk here is these sanctions & pull outs having the opposite effect. If t

I don't have a good read on the average Russian's opinion of Putin but I think a major risk here is these sanctions & pull outs having the opposite effect. If the main point of the effort is to drive a wedge between Putin and the people he really may be able to use this as a way to make it more of an "us" against "them" thing. Which then keeps him in power and he remains a risk for the world. Either way though it will likely work to depress their economy and make it more difficult for them to wage war on a larger scale that just takes a while to play out. Everyone keeps talking WW3 but the more I think about it the less worried I become. I think the only real risk to that is if Putin literally is an irrational mad man. As in he is hell bent on destroying the west even if the price is his own country and maybe the world. This is possible but not that likely. When you follow that logic he also isn't likely to go after a NATO country and expand the war because he can't win and rational people want to win. It's entirely possible that the yes men he has built into the Kremlin told him this whole thing was going to be a cake walk because they were afraid to tell him otherwise and had no idea. He may want this to end as much as the next guy but now needs to save face and show something for the massive problems that he created.