Nordic neighbours release new advice on surviving war

Unlikely. Putin is a product of russia, not the other way around.

Is that the case? I'm not the most knowledgeable, but I was under the impression that Putin is only capable of his level of influence to his KGB background. He definitely seems like a lynchpin to me, but I'd be interested in hearing more.

He's a lynchpin in the sense that he consolidated power, but it isn't as though he's some kind of genius. He's just an extraordinarily successful criminal/gangster.

In fact, his playbook of installing a puppet regime and having them "voluntarily" integrate into russia isn't particularly original — the USSR did the same thing with the Baltic states in the 1940s.

So, others around him could certainly take the reigns and continue the status quo.

For peace and prosperity in russia and for russians, there would need to be a deep reformatting and denazification of the country.