According to the Economist, he is “the country’s longest-serving dictator since Stalin” and is “running” unopposed in the election race, as any opposition voice has been shut out.
By Athena Papakosta
The presidential elections at Russia are being held from today until Sunday – with the residents of the Russian Far East, due to the time difference, having already started voting (polling stations opened at 08.00 local time on Friday, 22.00 Greek time on Thursday).
Electoral drama is absent from this election showdown with analysts referring to the next day for any surprises.
The President of Russia Vladimir Putinsets bow for another six-year term which will keep him in the Kremlin until the 2030when he will now complete three decades at the helm of the country’s governance either as president or as its prime minister.
For Economistit is “the longest-lived dictator of the country after Stalin” and in the pre-election race “is running” without a rivalas any opposition voice has been excluded.
Pollwhich was published this week, indicated that Vladimir Putin may even receive the 82% of the vote.
The president’s plans for the next day
“The presidential election in Russia is not as important as what will follow the next day,” commented Cornell University professor Brian Rosenfeld to the Associated Press, explaining that Vladimir Putin is choosing to postpone the … difficult.
Some analysts explain that a first – unpopular – move could be to decide on a second wave conscription. However, other analysts disagree and rule out this possibility.
On the one hand in Russia the voices in favor of rallying the Russian society around its defense needs are getting louder and on the other hand the war in Ukraine is evolving so that Moscow can maneuver by declaring itself open to negotiations to end the conflict.
At the same time, according to the head of Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Alexandra Vakrou, Russia could within the next few years test its commitment NATO in article 5, the cornerstone of the founding treaty of the Alliance which provides that an attack against one Member State constitutes an attack against all.
As Vakrou reports, “I don’t think Putin thinks he should be militarily stronger compared to all the other countries. They just need to be weaker.”
The question for him, explains Vakrou, is not how he will be stronger but how all the others will become weaker.
Therefore, in order to achieve this, he adds, he will need to take advantage of a situation in which he could test the strength of Article 5 and, in fact, without using military means. And this just to show that NATO is nothing more than a “fake man“, he says characteristically, giving the example of a cyber attack as a threat test.
In regards to interior of Russia no one could rule out receiving extra repressive measures, despite the fact that dissenting voices and Media have already been silenced.
Already a few weeks ago the most ardent critic of the Kremlin, Alexei Navalny, died under unclear circumstances in an Arctic penitentiary, while even the other three candidates of the presidential election either openly support the Russian president or the Kremlin line.
“How is it possible in a country of 145 million inhabitants that there is no one else capable of doing the job of president” asked BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg in a related report on the British network a few hours before the polls opened in the country, to received as a response from a voter of Vladimir Putin himself that “you can change a leader, but it will make little difference in our lives”.
Source :Skai
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