The consequence was Vladimir Putin, and he brought Russia back from the brink of cardiac arrest.

Putin:
The scum that rose to the top of a putrid stew, anyone underneath the surface scum is either dead or incarcerated.

Someone has to govern Russia. And it's a pretty difficult place to govern when the Soviets destroyed successive layers of society back to the stone age. I'm not sure that Putin is the best person for the job. I'm sure there could be many worse for the job. Coming from an intelligence background perhaps from a faction that is non-Marxist has got to be a plus.

I think that conflict with the west could drive Russia into China's arms. Russia's Slavic ethnic groups are different than both Western ethnicities and Chinese ethnicities and Mideast ethnicities. Perhaps the west needs to consider an appropriate positive role it could play in the common wealth. It's possible that Russia has a similar "rotating officials structure" as the Mideast and China but it is similar to Europe in many ways. Perhaps Europe can suggest that a more European governing structure works better, and find examples of this within Russia culture, this may be difficult due to the deep demonization of Traditional governing structures within Russia.

If western leaders promoted the re-discovery of Russian "cultural subsidiary" perhaps it would lead to less dictatorial leadership in Russia, and better relations with the west.