As Viktor Voropaev, a leading engineer at the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, commented, there is a possibility that after falling into the ocean, the “ball” (if it remains intact) may not immediately go to the bottom, but will remain floating on the surface. The fact is that, according to calculations, its density may be less than the density of water – approximately 940 kg per cubic meter
Space Debris Detection and Monitoring Complex in South Africa (BRICS project, "Milky Way")It likely landed somewhere between eastern Europe and India, a German radar had a final contact with the ex-probe at 6:04 UTC.
EU SST closely monitors re-entry of space object Cosmos-482 Descent Craft
Due to its inclination of approximately 51.95 degrees, the object could re-enter within a latitude band of ±52 degrees, covering a vast area of the Earth’s surface. Most of this area is ocean or uninhabited land, so the statistical probability of an impact on the ground in populated areas was...www.eusst.eu
At least in 1991 the U.S. and the rest of the world really did not want to see the USSR to collapse in an unstable fashion and supported certain stabilizing activities. Perhaps China will assume this role this time. The US is too busy rocking our own boat to help stabilize whatever happens to Russia, and I don't know if there is much appetite in the EU to give Russia a soft landing given how aggressive they have been for the last several decades.
This has aged remarkably well:
