The former commander of the US Army in Europe General Ben Hodges identified three factors that could lead to the disintegration of the Russian Federation, the Telegraph reported.
Firstly, the fall of internal confidence in the Russian army.
Russian men avoid mass recruitment, so they recruit ethnic minorities from Chechnya and other remote regions, who are used as cannon fodder. And if the Chechens decide to start another war for independence, Putin will not find the military resources to fight them.
Secondly, due to the loss of energy markets, which previously compensated for the lack of modern industry in the Russian Federation, the Russian economy will not be able to support a population of 144 million.
Russia has also been betting on arms exports, but no country is currently interested in buying such weapons.
The third factor is the small population of Russia relative to the territories that the country owns.