After re-election: Putin will pursue these goals next. Even the bonuses were on credit: new revelations make CS look bad (again).

After a presidential election mired in allegations of rigging, Russia’s election commission awarded Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin a record result of just over 87 percent of the vote. It is considered his best ever result as he begins his fifth term in office.

The choice at a glance:

Expert Angela Stent, head of the advisory department of the renowned United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC and author of the book ‘Putin’s World’, has a clear opinion on the re-election of Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to them, it is no coincidence that Putin attached so much importance to his re-election; he is interested in furthering his war against Ukraine.

The signs point to confrontation, Stent says. “I think he was concerned about maintaining Russia’s role in the world and Russia’s territorial integrity. “All he has indicated is that he will continue the war,” Stent told the Wall Street Journal.

Putin probably wants to take over more areas

Observers also fear that the Kremlin leader, who has been elected for another six-year term, will also use the outcome as a clear incentive to take even more territory from Ukraine. Putin has already announced that he will fully take over the previously partially occupied Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. Odessa in the south is also threatened with a Russian occupation attempt.

In addition to an even more brutal approach to the attack on Ukraine, experts also expect an increase in repression in Russia after the controversial elections. There is already no freedom of assembly or free reporting by the media; dissidents risk imprisonment if they criticize the war or the apparatus of power. Above all, the opposition has been eliminated because leading figures are in prison camps or have fled into exile abroad. Hopes for political change in Russia were recently dashed following the death of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny.

A tightening of the thumbscrews is expected in the country

In terms of domestic policy, the thumbscrews in the country could therefore be tightened considerably to quell the protests by Putin’s opponents that were visible on the three election days. Tax increases have also been announced to finance high spending on war and social policy projects.

Professor Andrei Soldierov of the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington DC said at a press conference: “What we have seen recently is an increase in the activities of Russian intelligence and security services, which are extremely aggressive.” “Since political stability is at stake, everything is justifiable, including killing political opponents and attacks abroad,” the political expert said of Putin. “They use the elections as an excuse, and then they simply make these methods and activities part of their playbook.”

“All this will create pressure on the regime from within.”

This lack of freedom in Russia and the synchronization of the Kremlin-controlled media are seen as the main basis for Putin to defend his power.

However, political scientist Tatjana Stanovaya expects that the Kremlin will have increasing problems in retaining power. Putin’s positions are unbalanced, the aims of the war are unclear; and there are noticeable interventions in private life, Stanovaya wrote in an analysis for the Carnegie think tank. “All this will inevitably create pressure on the regime from within,” she said. “This does not mean that the regime will collapse or that there will be mass protests.” But the influence of the elites will increase and Putin’s importance will decrease.

Observers described the vote, which was accompanied by protests, as undemocratic because no real opposition candidates were allowed. Furthermore, there is no freedom of assembly in Russia; the Kremlin-controlled media are lining up. Independent media are politically persecuted. Dissenters who criticize Putin’s war against Ukraine or the apparatus of power risk punishment and even imprisonment.

Meanwhile, on this last day of voting it became clear once again that not everything is going according to plan in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as the Kremlin likes to claim. In southern Russia, a drone strike caused a fire at an oil refinery. As in previous days, the western Russian border area of ​​Belgorod was bombarded with rockets. According to official information, a 16-year-old teenager died.

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