I don't have any data to support this but my thought is Russia was always going to turn into something like an oligarchy but that there would be a leader like P

I don't have any data to support this but my thought is Russia was always going to turn into something like an oligarchy but that there would be a leader like Putin I think was not inevitable. I think there could have been an elite class that controlled Russia's natural resources and a mostly weak central government. But this idea is based on other countries and I admit to not knowing nearly enough about Russian history to say this with any degree of authority. Alternatively, if outside forces had set up Russia's new government instead of Russia doing it itself, similar to what the US did with Japan, then I think there would be a larger chance for a more standard Western government. (To be clear, I'm not saying the US necessarily should have done that, or that doing that is a good thing, just that it would have changed the outcome.)