"Would you rather be servant of heaven or ruler of hell?"
Putin seems to have made his choice when he made a clear turn away from the West after flirting with them when he first took power and instead decided being the King of the Despots was better than being maybe top 5 in an embraced West.
I think had Putin embraced the West and moved Russia towards and into Nato, Russia would have begun a path of becoming the biggest European power.
A highly motivated population and work force, and being a Western and Euro bridge to Asia and an Asian Bridge to Europe puts Russia in an ideal position for decades of growth. I think they could have become a global power in Tech and provided for some time, a bit of a hedge to China become the dominant power in that region.
Instead Putin chose a greatly diminished Russia, who punched well below its weight in GDP and its ability to project power. But he is (was) King and for him, that became enough.
Xi in China is taking the other path. All in on building China into the sole world power which means he cannot loot the country into a down turn. It will be interesting when he dies, to see if he can ensure continuity of that vision because a greedy Putin type could easily spiral it down, just like Russia just by putting looting first.
