It is important to realize Vladimir Putin’s plan on partially selling out some of Russia out to China is failing as well as his and Russia’s war is.
China under the CCP are far worse than Putin and will see a weakened Russia in the years ahead to their benefit.
That said, Putin may try to run elsewhere as things go bad for him with Russia’s war and his dealings with China personally.
Belarus would not risk such oblivion from NATO and the East in the years ahead accommodating Putin. They will stay out of the way.
Here are three places he (and his closest foreign policy advisor as bad as he is Sergey Lavrov – as he will need someone in foreign relations to run with) may try to put wheels in motion quietly (don’t let him) to run to before his regime implodes and different Republics divide up Russia likely at some point:
- Syria: Syria traditionally is a close ally of Russia. It is ruled by a dictator whom also is under heat from the international community. Putin may think he will be defended by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He will be wrong though in that assumption.
- Venezuela: Venezuela traditionally is another close ally of Russia. It is also ruled by a dictator Nicolás Maduro. Putin might believe that he could find ‘refuge’ in Venezuela where maybe he thinks he would be protected by Maduro. Wrong. Any of these countries become targets if they do and they know it.
- Cuba: Cuba is another country that had some close ties to Russia at different points. It is a communist country (which turns out to be a disaster anywhere it is tried) that was administered by the Castro family over a long time. Putin may think that he could find refuge in Cuba. He would be quite wrong in that thinking, however.