Russian exit

[Tiger the Lion]

Like many Western companies, the one that I work for has exited Putin's Russia.
The list grows longer and longer.
This will hurt the Russian middle class. They will not like working for Chinese SOEs and Russian oligarchs, with foreign deputations limited to Shanghai and Dubai.

Putin is ensuring that Russia reverts to the Soviet Union quite properly

I'm not an expert but I mostly agree with your assessment. But my take is that he is attempting it, not ensuring it. The hardliners already gave up more ground than they could ever retrieve. (both geographically and ideologically ) The scary part for me is that you have a handful of old KGB farts who have been outplayed for 40 years and don't have a heck of a lot left to lose.