Yes, that is "Plan B" if it turns out completely impossible to get a Russian visa.
(It's only because I am so interested that I haven't given up yet. Any normal person would have given up a long time ago.)

"Plan B" is to go to Daugavpils (Russian speaking) in Latvia, then Riga and Jurmala (beach resort) then to Estonia and ferry to Finland, then whatever way back from Finland, for example ferry. I'd like to pass the Åland islands on the way back to Sweden, for a personal reason.

Alternatively I could just take the ferry straight from Riga to Stockholm.

All these places, are relatively unexciting for me though - I've already been there, I know a fair bit about them and I'm not that keen on Baltic people.

The cool and interesting thing for me to do would be to go back via St Petersburg (which will be totally unrecognisable for me, I am sure) and then some places in Karelia and perhaps as far up as Murmansk, and then go to Scandinavia from there.

There used to be a ferry from St Petersburg to Stockholm but it was closed down a few years ago, so now it is necessary to go via Helsinki.

As you may have guessed, this is a "no-flying" trip.