They're going with "nascent democrat" over "reliable dictator."
Jamal Khashoggi said some things in the WaPo on September 11. On September 28 he wandered into the Saudi embassy in Ankara and was told "hey come back October 2." He went in and never came out. Guaranteed: the stuff Khashoggi said in the Post was stuff the CIA wanted him to say. Especially considering his handler was a lobbyist for Qatar.
I've been of the opinion that the CIA has two options for a post-Putin Russia. Their first option is backing Lukashenko, 'cuz he's wanted it for 30 years, he's smart, he's reliable and dictators provide a single point of control. CIA lurvs them some single-point dictators. But Lukashenko's control is shaky and he is, uhh, a murderous despot. CIA lurvs them some regime change, too.
This, to me, looks like the start of a groundwork to Karzai Tikhanovskaya into office. It tells me that CIA and State are expecting the collapse of Russia to be extremely.fucking.messy.
And picked their arena. CIA is telegraphing that they will do what they can to provoke Russia's collapse ahead of the 2024 election. I envy their confidence.