General Ben Hodges calls on world to prepare for Russia's 'suicide'

This is reported by The Telegraph with reference to Hodges' statement.

"If we don't prepare for that possibility in the same way we didn't prepare for the collapse of the Soviet Union, it could create enormous instability in our geopolitics."

He noted that the leadership of Russia is experiencing a crisis of confidence, and the weaknesses of the Russian Federation revealed during the war with Ukraine will most likely lead to the beginning of the end. The collapse of a country that encompasses more than 120 ethnic groups may be gradual at first, but it can quickly become somewhat uncontrollable.

General Ben Hodges added that there are at least three factors that could lead to the collapse of the Russian Federation. 

Firstly, it is the decline of internal confidence in the Russian army, which has traditionally been the basis of the Kremlin's legitimacy. Russian men, once seduced by the size of salaries in the army, now avoid mass recruitment. This has exacerbated the disproportionate recruitment of ethnic minorities from Chechnya and other countries in remote regions – the groups most easily used as cannon fodder. According to the general, if the Chechens, for example, decide to start another war for independence, then Putin will not find the military resources to fight them. A lack of reaction from the leadership will lead to a series of similar uprisings across the country. 

Secondly, due to the loss of energy markets, which previously compensated for the lack of modern industry in the Russian Federation, the Russian economy will not be able to support a population of 144 million.

The third factor is the small population of Russia relative to the territories that the country owns.

"These numbers make civic solidarity difficult to achieve at the best of times, but now that the metropolis is in a weak position, any sense of national identity can quickly erode," Hodges added.

According to him, all these dilemmas together represent a very serious challenge for the West.

"If you get it wrong, we can face disaster. Our failure to prepare for the last collapse of Russia about 30 years ago and internal problems in the Russian Federation probably led to Putin's presidency. We cannot risk being unprepared a second time," he stressed.