Russia is organized as mafia, with Putin being the godfather, taking a share in everything from other guys and giving verdicts when there's disputes between them.
He got choosen by "Semya" (family) organized around Yeltsin in the first place, and over time he replaced most of the top guys with his own friends, and he remains on top, so there's nobody who is exactly "peer". But if enough of them change their minds - Putin loses power (and life) quickly. It's a balancing act - curbing the guys that stick out too much without frustrating enough of them to lose the support overall.
He got choosen by "Semya" (family) organized around Yeltsin in the first place, and over time he replaced most of the top guys with his own friends, and he remains on top, so there's nobody who is exactly "peer". But if enough of them change their minds - Putin loses power (and life) quickly. It's a balancing act - curbing the guys that stick out too much without frustrating enough of them to lose the support overall.
The current #2 is probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yury_Kovalchuk but it's hard to say with mafia.