As of November 30, 2025, Vladimir Putin remains President of Russia and has not been removed from power by Western-backed regime change or internal overthrow. He was sworn in for a fifth presidential term on May 7, 2024, confirming continuity of his rule during the ongoing war in Ukraine.(en.wikipedia.org)

The Russia–Ukraine war is still active, with large-scale Russian offensives and continued fighting into late 2025, indicating that the conflict has persisted for years without any collapse of the Russian regime or successful effort by Western countries to install alternative leadership in Moscow.(en.wikipedia.org)

Given that more than two years have passed since the August 2023 prediction and throughout this period Putin has retained power and the Russian state has remained politically intact, Sacks’s core claim—that Western hopes of ousting Putin via pressure or instability were unrealistic and that other countries would still have to deal with him during the war—has been borne out by events so far, even though the war itself is not yet over.