You knew the process by which his successor, his son, would be elevated. when the soviet secretary of the communist party died, would elect his success. but if putin dies, if, what would happen? to understand putin, you have to understand russia. the last hundred years have seen the fall of the czar, the collapse of democracy, the great depression, world wari with its 10s of million of russians dead. stalin stalin's, boris yeltsin's years of chaos and corruption. and then comes vladimir putin with increasing prominence and respect in the world.