Can we recognize some other faction to be the legitimate government of Russia?

[ck4829]

We did do it with Venezuela:

Venezuela’s crisis has raised questions that could determine the country’s future — and that a far-off news reader could be forgiven for finding confusing.

Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader, has declared that President Nicolás Maduro is illegitimate and has asserted himself as Venezuela’s interim president.

So who is the legitimate leader, how can we tell and who gets to decide?

The United States and several countries in Latin America and Europe have recognized Mr. Guaidó as the rightful leader, and he has called on the military to withdraw its support for Mr. Maduro.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/world/americas/venezuela-maduro-guaido-legitimate.html

Now obviously, the first challenge to this is WHO would want to step up to this challenge and make sure they're not near any windows and they would make sure they have a geiger counter on them at all times.

We say the elections in Russia are sham elections and that he has power from ill-gotten means... maybe that line of thinking should have some teeth behind it.

Just because Putin gets more than 100% of the vote in some regions doesn't mean he should have legitimacy based on that. How is he the legitimate leader again?

[hedda_foil]

1. The Russian opposition leader is Navalny. He's in prison.

[getagrip_already]

2. there is nobody claiming the mantle of russian power or authority......

besides pooty that is. Who would we recognize?

There will have to be a civil war before anyone with any standing is claiming leadership. And even then, they may not be someone we want to encourage.

[ck4829]

3. True. Dugin or Nazbols don't sound like good choices.