A little more than 87% was collected by Vladimir Putin in the Russian presidential election, an achievement that is a record in the history of modern Russia.

“Putin has a good chance of ruling longer than Joseph Stalin,” she observes Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “At the end of his new six-year term, which he secured in the current mock elections, Putin will complete 31 years in power.”

Of course, what distinguishes Putin from Stalin is mass terrorism: “The Russian president does not imprison and kill citizens indiscriminately, but targets his political opponents and those he considers “traitors”. (…) While Stalin openly waged war against his own people, Putin allows the majority of the population to lead a fairly peaceful life. Even now: the war against Ukraine seems to be absent from the daily lives of those not directly involved in it.”

However, “the ideological and economic mobilization for an epic war of Russia against the West opposes the Kremlin’s so far effort to keep politics out of the lives of the passive majority in the name of stability. This internal conflict was also evident in the election campaign (…) the aim was not to alarm the Russians. After all, neither Russia nor the rest of Europe depends on these elections – the winner was known anyway and the supposed result does not play any role”, concludes FAZ.

THE ZEIT Online focuses for its part on the protest events that took place on election day as part of the “Noon Against Putin” movement: “The crowds of voters who gathered at 12.00 o’clock in the western big cities of Russia made an impression. That’s why this protest was successful, also showing that there are many Russians who don’t like Putin. However, it is doubtful whether these gatherings will leave anything behind. State television has filmed the queues that formed and can forward the footage to the state security service. And the propagandists can present the fact as proof that indeed the turnout in the elections exceeded 70%”.