APPLEBAUM: Putin has grip on power unlike almost any other leader in the world. He controls enormous economic, political, social, propaganda levers.
At the same time, it's important to remember that there's nothing more fragile than system in which there is no obvious successor.
The funny thing about Putin is that not only do we not know who would replace him, we don't know how that person would be chosen.
There's no Politburo, there's no Soviet Communist Party, there's no internal group that would choose the next leader.
So, you have this weird, precarious situation where you have this strong system that, without him, would suddenly become very chaotic.