Invasion of Ukraine, repression in Russia, confrontation with the West: Vladimir Putin, in energy for 1 / 4 of a century, secured six extra years within the Kremlin.
The Russian chief has greater than 87% of the vote, after counting in additional than 99% of the polling stations, in keeping with the official Russian information company Ria Novosti.
Putin, who in 2020 revised the structure to permit him to stay in energy till 2036, has already served 4 phrases (two four-year phrases, two six-year phrases), interspersed with a break as prime minister.
Through the years, the facility established by Vladimir Putin, who from the Soviet KGB arrived within the Kremlin on December 31, 1999, has revealed two main options of his regime.
The primary, the more and more harsh stance, first with the management of the oligarchs, the second Chechen battle, the suppression of freedoms, the media, the opposition.
His most well-known opponent, Alexei Navalny, died in mid-February below unclear circumstances in a jail within the Russian Arctic the place he was serving a protracted sentence for “extremism”.
Second attribute: the pursuit of geopolitical energy, with the battle in Georgia (2008), the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea (2014), the navy invasion of Syria (2015) and the invasion of Ukraine (2022).
Europe, particularly Angela Merkel's Germany, believed it may direct these ambitions the place it needed, betting on financial interdependence by way of large purchases of Russian gasoline. To no avail.
–New world–
At 71, Vladimir Putin seems extra immovable than ever.
The pinnacle of the Kremlin actually stumbled within the battle in Ukraine, his military suffered humiliating defeats, however he himself persists, betting on victory in a battle of attrition, due to the fatigue of the Western supporters of Kiev and the Ukrainian inhabitants.
And, two years after the offensive started, Putin sees motive to imagine so.
His troops have captured the japanese metropolis of Avdiivka and are placing strain on the Ukrainian military, which is going through shortages of ammunition and fight expertise.
In late February, the Russian president vowed that his troops “is not going to retreat” into Ukraine.
For Russia, it’s “a matter of life and dying,” he reiterates. This week, he referred to as it “important” that Russian voters vote with unity and keep on the “path” that has been set.
Since ordering the assault, he has accused Ukraine of “Nazism”, has introduced the annexation of its territories and but portrays the battle as a proxy battle, began by the Individuals.
Any opposition to the invasion carries a jail sentence. Hundreds of Russians have been persecuted, prosecuted, imprisoned, or compelled into exile.
He doesn’t care about Western sanctions, the Worldwide Legal Court docket prosecuting Vladimir Putin for the compelled switch of youngsters from Ukraine to Russia, the losses of the military. As a result of the Russian president has one mission: to finish Western hegemony.
In October, he declared that he “has an obligation to construct a brand new world.”
–Absolutely–
The previous KGB agent, who served in East Germany within the Nineteen Eighties, is deeply traumatized by the collapse of the Soviet Union and its defeat within the Chilly Warfare.
And Vladimir Putin could also be pleased with the shut relationship with China, of Asia's thirst for its hydrocarbons, and even sees African nations turning to Moscow and its paramilitary organizations breaking with “neo-colonialism” of the West.
It additionally serves one other function. In keeping with him, Russia is a standard-bearer of “conventional” values ​​in opposition to what he considers to be the West's ethical “lapse” as a consequence of its tolerance of the LGBTQI+ neighborhood.
With the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the summertime of 2023, Putin feels extra freedom of motion whereas the West is split over persevering with assist to Ukraine.
It’s attempting to get again on the worldwide stage, and the Russian financial system has typically absorbed the shock of Western sanctions, regardless of inflation and a reliance on protection gear manufacturing.
As highly effective as he’s, he doesn't lack for challenges.
His battle in Ukraine is way from gained. The power of Russians, elites and the financial system to resist the battle over time stays an actual query. The June 2023 mutiny by Wagner's mercenaries below Yevgeny Prigozhin – lengthy considered one of Putin's most loyal males in Putin's interior circle – was a typical reflection.
The dying of the chief of those fighters in a aircraft crash, introduced as an accident, allowed the Kremlin to shut this chapter.
–Repression–
On the home political entrance, the Kremlin tolerates no opposition.
Some dissidents at the moment are useless, reminiscent of Alexei Navalny or Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in 2015. Numerous well-known and nameless dissidents are rotting in jail for denouncing the invasion of Ukraine.
Nonetheless, for almost all of his countrymen, Putin stays the person who restored the consideration of a Russia undermined by the poverty, corruption, and decadence of his alcoholic predecessor Boris Yeltsin.
Forty-seven years outdated when he handed by way of the gates of the Kremlin, he promised friendship to the West and developed the financial system by benefiting from favorable hydrocarbon costs.
The American George W. Bush referred to as him “wonderful” on the time. The German Gerhard Schroeder and the Italian Silvio Berlusconi declared themselves his mates. Regardless of the repression he utilized, regardless of the atrocities in Chechnya.
However the seeds of divorce had been already there. And Vladimir Putin uncovered them in Munich in 2007, in his scathing indictment earlier than surprised Western officers.
He accused NATO of threatening Russia, blamed the US for considering of itself because the “sole sovereign” of the world. Arguments he recycled with a view to defend the choice to order the invasion of Ukraine.
As for his private life, he’s surrounded by excessive secrecy. His two daughters had been raised very discreetly, though one has made public appearances lately.
Learn additionally: Conciliatory message Putin: Russia is not going to be allowed to “crush”
Supply: APE-MPE – AFP
