Vladimir Putin is a frightening man. He isn’t a dictator, but neither is he terribly democratic. And he has led the Russian Federation in a new direction—outward, away from the turmoil of the ’90s and back onto the world stage, in just about the most frightening way possible. Vox even thinks the fellow might start World War III, by accident or even on purpose. I have a much less serious question, though: Will Putin, a rumored descendant of the House of Rurik, declare himself Emperor of All the Russias?

Tsar Vladimir Putin I Of All The Russias

Vladimir Putin is, right now, president of just one of the Russias: the Russian Federation, the largest state in the world. Historically speaking, there is not one Russia, but three: Great Russia, Little Russia, and White Russia, or as they are known today, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. For most of the last few hundred years, the three states were forged into one empire under one ruler, first underneath the Russian Empire and then under the Soviet Union.

Since the ’90s, though, the three Russias are three separate states. This is relatively unprecedented and modern history, and as Vox’s big World War III story noted, it’s part of the reason Putin is so uppity: His country’s sphere of influence is much reduced, and he wants to rebuild. And he sees the United States actively preventing that, which, to be fair, it totally is. It’s a big problem, and both sides are partially in the wrong.

But Putin doesn’t want to recreate the Soviet Union. He doesn’t believe in ecumenical Communism, or any kind of Communism at all. He’s a nationalist. He doesn’t want what’s best for Communism, but what’s best for Russia, and to some extent what’s best for Russians—even Slavs. He wants to restore the country’s national, and imperial, glory.

What better way to bring back Russia’s imperial glory than to bring back its emperor? Russia, as you well know, was once an Empire—a real one, with an Emperor and all. In an act which, outside of the context of this article, I generally applaud, the communists killed the entire imperial family in cold blood, ending permanently the main line of the centuries-old Romanov dynasty (they have since become saints). There are still pretenders to the throne, of course, but none of them are terribly serious.

But Vladimir Putin? Vladimir Putin is ultimately of unknown stock, possibly peasant stock, possibly a semi-mythical branch of the Rurikids. That last part is important: He’s got an almost certainly spurious connection to the family that founded Russia, giving him a claim more senior even to the Romanovs. And Putin remains unprecedentedly popular, around or above 80 percent much of the time. He has the official blessing of the Russian Orthodox Church, the support of the people, and a little bit of a personality cult around his masculinity already. He’s got it all.

So, why not? Why can’t Vladimir Putin have Patriarch Kirill of Moscow crown him Tsar of all the Russias? Heir to the era of Russia’s greatest greatness? He’s a technocrat, sure, but he’s clearly not stepping down from power anytime soon. Why not restore Russia to its true height, and lock himself into its history for all eternity? I even know when he would do it: July 17, 2018. A hundred years to the day from the extermination of the Romanovs. It would capstone a century of Russia without monarchy. It would bring about a new age. The age of Vladimir Putin I, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, of Moscow. May it be so.