or patrushev if he's still around.  the thing is will the russian people accept such a farce with an obvious transfer of power reaching over their real opinions on things? not to mention the apparatus putin set up to run the country - those people in his various circles were loyal specifically to him, and maybe not so much to whoever succeeds him. it's not a monarchy, the siloviki are not sworn to obey all of putin's orders even from beyond the grave. we'll just have to wait and see what happens when the day comes.
Japan