Vladimir Putin is gunning for another term as
Russia’s president in this Sunday’s election. It’s pretty much a done deal that the 71-year-old will cruise to victory and tack on another 6 years to his already long tenure at the top. If Putin does end up serving out this next term fully, he’ll become modern Russia’s longest-ruling leader by far, outpacing even the old Tsars from way back.
He’s already been calling the shots in Moscow for over 20 years at this point. Of course, the big elephant in the room for this election is Putin’s disastrous war in Ukraine. It’ll be almost exactly 2 years to the day since he kicked off the brutal invasion on February 24th, 2022 – an assault he euphemistically dubbed a “special military operation.”
The conflict has seriously ramped up tensions in the lead-up to the vote. Just in the last few days, Ukraine has struck Russian oil facilities with drones and shelled border areas. They’ve even allegedly tried to infiltrate Russian territory with proxy militias. Putin has warned he won’t let these provocations go unanswered.
While his re-coronation is pretty much guaranteed, Putin wants a blowout win to show he has the Russian people firmly behind him and his Ukraine adventure. His opponents have urged citizens to protest his authoritarian rule symbolically at polling stations.
The Russian leader has also accused the West of trying to meddle in the election, something they’ve denied. But no matter what happens, it’s clear Putin is determined to tighten his grip on power for 6 more years after Sunday’s vote.
