'Putin's downfall': Here are 3 possible outcomes for the Russian regime

Russia is facing a governmental crisis that could radically alter the shape and structure of the country in the coming years.

According to Nikolay Petrov, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin could fail within the coming year.

And this failure will have profound consequences for all of Russia, leading to at the very worst regime-change and a proliferation of new institutions and states throughout the Russian Federation.

Petrov, who was formerly the chair of the Carnegie Moscow Center's Society and Regions Program, believes that Russia's current trajectory of military adventurism, the complete sidelining of political opposition movements, the collapsing Russian economy, and the complete centralization of power with Putin could lead to only three outcomes.