Any prospect of the Ukrainian conflict being resolved within the next year has been reduced considerably as a consequence of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decisive election victory to serve a fifth term.
Given the fact that many of Putin’s political rivals have either been jailed, are living in exile or have died, Russian voters understandably had little expectation that the presidential election contest would result in any other outcome than triumphant Putin’s re-election.
The likelihood of Putin facing any significant opposition during his re-election campaign effectively ended with the death of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s popular opposition leader, who died in mysterious circumstances after being jailed in a Russian arctic penal colony.
The official Russian record of Navalny’s death last month is that he died of natural causes. But his supporters—including his wife, Yulia Navalnaya—believe he was murdered by the Russian authorities, even though they have yet to provide any conclusive evidence to justify their claim.
For weeks after Navalny’s demise, Putin deliberately avoided publicly mentioning his political rival.
It was only after the votes had finally been counted following last weekend’s election that Putin finally referred to his opponent’s death, remarking that it was “a sad event” and claiming that the Kremlin was in the process of negotiating a prisoner swap with the US involving Navalny when he died.
With Navalny's death and other Putin opponents unable to participate in the vote, the only protests against Putin’s re-election took the form of long queues of protesters forming at polling stations at midday on Sunday as part of a pre-planned effort to register their disaffection.
Sizeable victory
Such gestures did not prevent the 71-year-old Putin from emerging victorious with an estimated 88% of the vote, an overwhelming victory that almost guarantees he will serve another six years as Russia’s all-powerful leader.
