Where is Russia Headed?

In circles, mostly.
If they don't extricate themselves from quagmires in Ukraine and Syria, they are headed nowhere fast.

First of all in the larger context and from the Russian point of view. During the Obama administration the Russians complained loudly about the U.S. interference in Ukraines election process via Victoria Neuland of the State Department..........rememeber the "F" Europe comment? So it is not like the Russians one day decided to mess with the United States, they view the 2016 fiasco as retaliation for what the Obama State Department did earlier in Ukraine. Secondly, what did the Russians really accomplish with their less than $200k spend on political ads in 2016? Sure they sent the Democrats into full hysteria and that was only because the Democrats were looking desperately for an issue to blame their loss on. My view is we would have the same election outcome regardless of the Russian interference because it was such a small footprint. At any rate relations are really poor and I think sooner or later the Russians are going to conclude the only way out for them is armed conflict.

Looks to me like Putin is looking for a dictatorship.