Elections in Russia 2024 take place from March 15 to 17. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin enters his fifth round.
Can Vladimir Putin become president for the fifth time, and who is creating the illusion of “competition” Russian dictator Facts ICTV spoke with political scientist and chairman of the board of the Center for Applied Political Research Penta — Vladimir Fesenko.
When are the elections in Russia 2024
What is known about Putin’s pseudo opponents
Why Putin is eliminating competitors
Putin changed the Constitution to rule until 2036
Why there is no democracy in Russia
Putin's plans after the elections
When are the elections in Russia 2024
According to the decision of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, the eighth presidential elections in Russia will be held from March 15 to 17, 2024.
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The inauguration of the elected President of Russia is scheduled for May 7, 2024.
The president in Russia is elected for six years, that is, until May 7, 2030.
What is known about Putin’s pseudo opponents
Vladimir Putin, 71 years old. He has held the post of president for four terms and is on his fifth term.
In April 2021, he rewrote the Constitution, resetting his own presidential terms, which gives him the opportunity to serve as president until 2036. On February 24, 2022, he unleashed a full-scale and bloody war against Ukraine. In 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin in connection with the deportation of Ukrainian children.
Probably will win the Russian elections with about 80% of the vote.
Graphics: ICTV Facts
Nikolai Kharitonov, is the oldest candidate on the list, he is 75 years old. Nominated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
Proposes a “left turn to the future”, emphasizes that he does not criticize Putin. The only candidate who does not have a website. In 2022, he came under Western sanctions. He supported “denazification” Ukraine.
Leonid Slutsky, 56 years old. Replaced Vladimir Zhirinovsky as head of the LDPR.
Organized trips of delegations from Europe to occupied Crimea — because of this, back in 2014, he came under Western sanctions. In 2018, several female journalists accused him of sexual harassment.
Vladislav Davankov, 40 years old. He is nominated by the New People party and is a co-founder of Faberlic.
In 2023, Davankov ran for mayor of Moscow and gained just over 5%. In the war with Ukraine he stands for “peace and negotiations” on “Russian conditions”. Voted in support of the annexation of Ukrainian territories, for which he came under international sanctions.
Russian presidential elections 2024. Photo: Getty Images
Political scientist Vladimir Fesenko considers all these candidates to be formally extras to create the illusion of competitive elections, although, according to him, the winner of the Russian presidential elections in 2024 has long been known.
– Everyone understands that the winner is already known. All other candidates serve as extras. So to speak, a side dish for the main course, which is Putin himself. Moreover, their roles are clearly defined — they cannot total more than 20%. Because the result is already known in advance — Putin should get at least 80% in these elections, the expert noted.
Fesenko cited the example that in the last presidential elections in Russia, Ksenia Sobchak acted as Putin’s pseudo-oppositionist. It was supposed to demonstrate that there could be a pseudo-liberal candidate in the elections in the Russian Federation.
And in 2024, even such a candidate was simply not allowed to participate in the elections.
– “This is a ritual that needs to be done to show the world that there is no alternative to Putin,” the political scientist emphasized.
Why Putin is eliminating competitors
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is afraid to allow real oppositionists to participate in elections in the Russian Federation, so as not to be defeated.
A political scientist gave an example when Alexey Navalnyran for mayor of Moscow and received a great response from the population. Then he lost to the current acting mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin. In 2014, Navalny actively criticized the policies of the Kremlin dictator. In the same year, a fabricated case was framed against him and he was sentenced to three and a half years probation for money laundering.
– Putin felt the population’s favor towards his opposition, after which Navalny was not allowed to participate in any elections, Fesenko said.
Navalny died under mysterious circumstances on February 16, 2024 in the special regime penal colony Polar Wolf in the village of Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug at the age of 47.
Farewell to Navalny/Photo: Getty Images
February 27, 2015 Boris Nemtsov was liquidated. The politician actively criticized Putin's power and was shot dead at the age of 55. Four bullets were fired at him, and five Caucasian men were later accused of murder.
Putin changed the Constitution to rule until 2036
As the political scientist says, in fact, Putin has been in power in the Russian Federation since the beginning of the 2000s. In August 1999, he became prime minister, and in 2000 he assumed the post of president for the first time. In 2008, Putin was replaced by his henchman Dmitry Medvedev. And from 2012 until now, Putin has returned to his presidential throne.
Dmitry Medvedev/Photo: Getty Images
Under Medvedev’s tenure in Russia “the first rays of democracy”began to break through. People were not afraid to express their opinions and often gathered for protests. However, Putin was not satisfied with this behavior of the population, so once again becoming president, he began to suppress opposition movements and eliminate oppositionists who posed a real threat to his career.
In April 2021, Vladimir Putin amended the Russian Constitution, resetting his own presidential terms, allowing him to run for president until the end of 2036.
– How they joke in Russia — This is the election for the rest of Putin’s life. As long as he is physically and psychologically able to control Russia, the expert emphasized.
Why there is no democracy in Russia
According to Fesenko, the political culture of “autocracy” reigns in Russia. and the cult of Putin. The population of Russia is accustomed to living in such conditions, and therefore does not express distrust of the Kremlin dictator.
– They perceive the President as a king. The point is not only in Putin and the fact that he wants authoritarianism, the problem is also in the political culture of Russians, who accept this “autocracy” under the form of presidential power,” noted the political scientist.
Putin’s plans after the elections
As the expert notes, it is no secret that Putin plans to wage a long and bloody war against Ukraine. However, will he carry out mass mobilization after the elections — open question.
– After the defeat of the Russian military in the Kharkov region in the fall of 2022, Putin carried out large-scale mobilization and realized that mobilization leads to increased tension and the flight of a significant part of Russians abroad, Fesenko said.
He added that the Russian dictator concluded that it was better to carry out a small planned mobilization every month, this would cause less negativity towards his person among the population. Therefore, now in the Russian Federation there are ongoing monthly mobilizations of at least 30 thousand people.
– If Putin carries out a mass mobilization after his elections, we will have no choice but to do the same. Because a new wave of mobilization in Russia will mean an escalation of the war. “Putin will try to force us to peace on his own terms, through the escalation of the war,” the expert said.
Presidential elections in the Russian Federation are also held in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia's attempts to organize any part of the elections in the occupied regions of Ukraine are completely illegal and violate international law.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the United States does not and will never recognize the legitimacy or results of fake elections in sovereign Ukraine, which are part of the presidential elections in Russia.
