In a three-day election that leaves no room for doubt, Russian President Vladimir Putin is poised to win a fifth time period on Sunday, permitting him to remain in energy till 2030 — and, ought to he run once more, to 2036.
However many analysts imagine the 71-year-old autocrat will rule this nation of 146 million folks for all times.
It was not speculated to be this manner. Beneath Russia’s structure, Putin’s time period in energy was supposed to finish in 2008 — however below a difficult bait-and-switch, he successfully dominated Russia as prime minister for 4 years, swapping locations with Dmitry Medvedev. Putin returned as president in 2012, sparking large protests that modified nothing.
In 2020, Putin engineered modifications to the structure in a nationwide vote marred by irregularities that allowed him at the least two extra six-year phrases.
Putin has centralized energy, invaded Georgia and Ukraine, and destroyed the Russian opposition. The 2 most charismatic opposition leaders are lifeless: Boris Nemtsov was gunned down close to the Kremlin in 2015, and Alexei Navalny survived a state-ordered poisoning in 2020 however died in jail final month. His widow says he was killed on Putin’s direct order. Different opposition figures are both in jail, silenced or have fled the nation.
Having cleared the sector, the Kremlin responds indignantly to ideas that Russia’s democracy is pretend. Final week, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned Moscow wouldn’t tolerate such criticisms. “Our democracy is the most effective and we are going to proceed to construct it,” he mentioned.