I would make a soft prediction that if the Ukraine war ends, Russia will be welcomed into the fold and a lot of the sanctions will be slowly taken away in exchange for energy.
So although Russia’s current situation isn’t great, I’m not sure this will hold up in 5 years.
Would you care to elaborate as to under what sort of agreement (specifically in terms of territorial arrangements, but also any other key concessions that come to mind) you see the war "ending" in the near term?
And will Russia need to pay any sort of financial compensation to Ukraine, or will it simply be "welcomed into the fold"?
They already showed they are the single nation of the XXI century that is going to war with its neighbors and is sending nuclear threats everywhere. Once their mask fell off, who in their right mind would want to do anything to make them stronger? A whole generational attitude would have to change.
So although Russia’s current situation isn’t great, I’m not sure this will hold up in 5 years.