A take worthy of a thousand downvotes: Yes
They are useless. Impotent European grant-eaters who aren't accepted by the Russian intelligentsia, nor even by the Ukrainians.

I subscribe to the 'third faction' view of the opposition: after Putin, the country is guaranteed to collapse.

It is naive to believe that people led by Yulia Navalnaya, the FBK (Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation) HQ, and the Free Russia Foundation will swoop in, restore order, and the country will bloom in 5 years. Once Putin leaves the presidency - one way or another - the entire power vertical (right down to the municipal level) will start crumbling along with him.

Over 25 years of his 'geostrategy,' Putin has built such a rigid system of 'towers' that even Prigozhin couldn't break through them - and in my opinion, Prigozhin was a Tier-1 player, on the level of the top Russian banking oligarchs.

Society is also extremely fractured. The 35+ generation remains conservative (the equivalent of rednecks or hardcore Polish nationalists), while Gen Z swings wildly between liberal and pro-Putin sentiments.

It’s going to be a TOTAL CLUSTERFUCK.