Putin on brink as Russia on verge of being torn apart with Kremlin destroyed

Vladimir Putin is facing the break up of Russia (Image: Getty)

Vladimir Putin's Russia is like a Frankenstein monster, whose collapse is inevitable and will be triggered by regional tensions, a prominent dissident told the Express. Nastya Rodionova is a former Russian political journalist who has been living in exile in France with her young family since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

She is a well-known poet and writer in her native country and published a critically acclaimed novel in 2021 called "To Kill Lenin". The 39-year-old told the Express she decided to leave her comfortable life in Moscow, after her children were subjected to "truth lessons" at school, where they were told that Russia was saving Ukrainians from Nazism. "I realised that if I stayed in Russia, I would not be able to stay silent, and eventually I would end up in prison," she explained.

Nastya Rodionova is a Russian writer and poet (Image: Facebook)

"I decided that starting a new life — even if it meant losing almost everything I had achieved by that point — would be the more honest choice for me."

As a journalist, she closely followed the political protests that erupted in 2011, after Putin declared his intention to stand for President for a third term, having stepped down in 2008.

But she was left disappointed by the lack of resolve of the protesters, once the Kremlin regime cracked down.

"We saw the political failure of the middle class during the 2011–2014 protests," she recalled. "Then, educated urbanites took to the streets, and even in a relatively softer authoritarian climate they collapsed under minimal pressure, as the regime swiftly turned into a dictatorship."

Hope was rekindled when young people launched their own protests, inspired by Alexey Navalny's anti-corruption campaign, but the "children's crusade" also faded away with the introduction of new repressive laws.

Despite the bitter failures of the past, Nastya still believes Putin's regime will implode under the weight of its own internal contradictions.

"Putin’s Russia is like Frankenstein’s monster — a grotesque organism made from dead parts, brought to life by someone’s mad will," she said.

"I hear talk of 're-educating the monster', making it good, obedient, instilling European values, dressing it respectably, teaching it not to kill or rape. This plan is understandably worrying. The only real option is to dismantle it back into parts — and perhaps those parts can live again.

"This imperfect metaphor is my way of expressing the inevitability of Russia’s collapse, the downfall of what is essentially a colonial empire."

She continued: "Corruption, poverty, censorship, and even war have not mobilised protest in Russia. But the system rests on a massive gulf between regions. Chechnya and Siberia, Moscow and Chukotka, Kalmykia and Volgograd are essentially different worlds, ruled from the centre, forced into uniformity, with resources often distributed unjustly.

"Each of these worlds has its own identity, its own pride. I see potential in that."

Russia has a highly diverse population, made up of over 190 distinct ethnic groups, each boasting their own cultures and identities - a legacy of its rich historical past.

The country is also divided into 89 regions, 21 of which are self-governing ethnic republics like Tatarstan and Chechnya - where the majority of the population are Muslims.

Russia's regions - which are overwhelmingly dependent on Kremlin funds - are also coming under growing financial strains due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, with government resources increasingly diverted to supporting Putin's military campaign.

Fifty-six regions are reported to be facing significant budget deficits, as expenses rise inexorably but revenues dwindle - meaning there is little to no money to spend on public services such as health and education.