Well, right now he is not. But as it is kinda obvious, current strategy is to crank sanctions on individual oligarchs and promise them golden mountains, if Putin is disposed. As for liberalism: in usa terms he would be republican - privatize all the shit, racist and anti-lgbt. He is not better for the people in russia, he would be conceivably worse, as fully privatizing healthcare and mineral extraction companies spells disaster. It already is going to shit, but like it would be even more shit, when private owners would be tncs which will happily ship out resources and money even cheaper.