Military expert: Putin's departure would not change Russia's policy

Jānis Slaidiņš, a National Armed Forces major and staff officer of the National Guard, expressed skepticism on TV24's program "Aktuālais par karadarbību Ukrainā" about the idea that Vladimir Putin's removal from power would fundamentally change Russia's policies.

The discussion followed a viewer's question about whether, given examples of leadership changes elsewhere in the world, a similar approach could be applied to Putin and Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko. The viewer also noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has never stated the physical elimination of Putin or Lukashenko as a goal.

The system runs deeper than one person

Slaidiņš explained that Russia's power structure does not rest on Putin alone — it is a much broader system capable of continuing to function even after his departure. "Putin will leave, another one just like him will come," he said, stressing that replacing this one leader would simply mean another representative of the same system taking his place.

According to the expert, the key issue is not the individual sitting in the Kremlin but the very system that has taken root in the country. As long as that system remains unchanged, swapping out its leader would not alter the country's overall political course.

Change must come from within

Slaidiņš believes such change cannot be imposed on Russia from outside — it must emerge from within Russian society itself. For that reason, he considers hopes that Putin's departure alone would lead to a genuinely different Russia to be overly optimistic.

His conclusion is that as long as the current power system persists, a change of leader remains possible, but a change in the country's actual policy does not.