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Russia elections: Protesters arrested on final day of vote set to give Vladimir Putin fifth term - BBC News Russia elections: Protesters arrested on final day of vote set to give Vladimir Putin fifth term - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Sergei Goryashko Will Vernon
BBC News Russian BBC News, Washington DC
Many believe it’s a foregone conclusion that the incumbent Vladimir Putin will claim victory and become president for the fifth time. Another six years of Putin as President will almost
So why certainly leave US-Russian relations unchanged – at first glance.
is the Kremlin going to the trouble of staging the election? The relationship is at an all-time low: Washington is
Show of support backing Ukraine with money and weapons, Joe Biden has called Vladimir Putin a
Elections in Russia are rarely nail-biting events, “killer” and a “war criminal,” the two Presidents haven’t spoken for over two
but they are important to legitimise those in power and to show that the years, hundreds of US sanctions have been applied, and officials here will
opinion of the people matters. continue to view Russia as a significant threat to the national security of
This time it is especially important for Vladimir America and its closest allies.
Putin not only to win, but also to see a high turnout at polling stations and a But it takes two to tango. And there’s one man who often
high proportion of support, as the country is involved in a full-scale war behaves as though he’d quite like to do a dance with President Putin: Donald
which will have lasting consequences both for Russia and for the wider world. Trump.
The war and the election Trump has repeatedly praised the Kremlin leader and is sceptical about supporting Ukraine. After the two met this month, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Trump “would not give a penny” to help the Ukrainians if he regains the Presidency.
Putin has appeared at many events during his Trump’s comments about Nato, too, are music to Vladimir Putin’s ears. The former President has poured scorn on the basic principle of the military alliance – the article on mutual defence of members. President Biden calls that “outrageous and dangerous.”
campaign, avoiding talking about the “special Could US-Russia relations fundamentally shift if Donald Trump returns to the White House? It’s possible. But any moves to improve ties with Moscow, or sacrifice Ukraine, would likely be met with harsh resistance: both Congress and America’s allies abroad would push back hard.
military operation” - Moscow’s term for the invasion of Ukraine.
Even when left out of the campaign, the war is a
key component of media narratives and Russians cannot avoid it.
High turnout and high support for the president
will add legitimacy to his subsequent decisions, many of which will be directly
linked to the invasion.
What is likely to change?
There are no independent opinion polls in Russia
and most Russians get their news from state media, which is heavily biased in
favour of Vladimir Putin and his policies.
Yet experts believe that more Russians are
sceptical about the government than it may appear, but they are too afraid to
speak out.
The most likely outcome of this election is a
convincing victory for Putin, at least on paper.
But a low turnout
will mean that support for the president has weakened and this in turn may
bring even tighter state controls and further slide Russia into an atmosphere
of fear and oppression.
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