Vladimir Putin on Friday moved to extend his oppressive and unrelenting grip on Russia for at least another six years, announcing his candidacy in next March’s presidential election that he is certain to win, according to state media reports.
Putin still enjoys widespread support after nearly a quarter century in power, despite starting a costly war in Ukraine that has claimed thousands of his countrymen’s lives, sparked repeated attacks inside Russia — including one in the Kremlin itself — and eroded his image. invulnerable
A short-lived coup in June by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin sparked widespread speculation that Putin could lose his grip, but he emerged from it without permanent scars, and Prigozhin’s death in a mysterious plane crash two months later reinforced the view that Putin was in absolute control.
Former President Boris Yeltsin, left, smiles as he speaks with Russian acting President and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in the Kremlin, Russia, on December 31, 1999. AP
Putin announced his decision to run in the March 17 presidential election during a Kremlin awards ceremony, according to state news agency Tass and RIA Novosti.
About 80% of the population approve of his performance, according to an independent Levada Center poll.
The support may come from the heart or it may reflect submission to a leader whose crackdown on any opposition has made relatively mild criticism dangerous.
Whether due to real support or coercion, Putin is expected to face only opposition in the polls.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexi II, right, greets Russia’s Putin as former President Yeltsin looks on, in the Moscow Kremlin on May 7, 2000. AP
Putin, 71, has twice used his influence to amend the constitution so that in theory he can stay in power until he is in his mid-80s. He is already the longest-serving Kremlin leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
In 2008, he stepped down to become prime minister due to term limits but remained Russia’s driving force.
The term of office of the president was later extended to six years from four, while another package of amendments he had made three years ago reset the count for two consecutive terms starting in 2024.
“He’s afraid to give up power,” Dmitry Oreshkin, a political analyst and professor at the Free University of Riga, Latvia, told The Associated Press this year.
Putin shakes hands with the unidentified relative of a sailor, believed to have died aboard the crippled nuclear submarine Kursk on August 22, 2000. AP
At the time of the amendment allowing him two more terms, Putin’s fears about losing power may have increased: The Levada poll showed his approval rating much lower, hovering around 60%.
In the view of some analysts, the decline in popularity may be the main driver of the war that Putin launches in Ukraine in February 2022.
“This conflict with Ukraine is necessary as glue. He needs to consolidate his power,” said commentator Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speechwriter who now lives in Israel.
Putin shows his passport to members of the election commission as he arrives to take part in voting at a polling station in Moscow, Russia, on July 1, 2020. AP
Brookings Institution scholar Fiona Hill, a former US National Security Council expert on Russian affairs, agreed that Putin thought a “nice, winnable little war” would consolidate support for his re-election.
“Ukraine will surrender,” he told the AP this year. “He will install a new president in Ukraine. He will declare himself president of the new union of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia all the time ahead of the 2024 elections. He will be the supreme leader.”
War doesn’t work like that. It has turned into a back-and-forth in which neither side has made significant progress and poses a serious challenge to rising prosperity that is crucial to Putin’s popularity and Russia’s tendency to brush aside concerns about corrupt politics and shrink tolerance for dissent.
Former President Trump meets with Putin at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017. AP
Philip Short, author of the 2022 book “Putin,” believes the Russian leader wants to make a political transition before 2024 “so he doesn’t have to stand up anymore,” but his struggle in Ukraine has forced him to continue.
Tatiana Stanovaya of Carnegie Russia’s Eurasia Center said Putin “believes that when you serve a state, you cannot leave your post in a difficult situation.”
While Putin has long since abandoned the macho photoshoots of bear hunting and scuba diving that once entertained and wowed the world, he shows little sign of slowing down.
A photo from 2022 of him with a bloated face and hunched posture led to speculation he was seriously ill, but he seems to have changed little in public appearance recently.
Putin walked through the Hall of St. George to participate in the inauguration ceremony at the Moscow Kremlin, Russia on May 7, 2004. AP
Putin’s reign has spanned five US presidents, from Bill Clinton to Joe Biden.
He became acting president on New Year’s Eve in 1999, when Boris Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned.
He was elected for his first term in March 2000.
When he was forced to step down in 2008 due to term limits, he moved to the post of prime minister while close ally Dmitry Medvedev served as acting president.
When Putin announced he would run for a new term in 2012 and Medvedev dutifully agreed to become prime minister, public protests numbered 100,000 or more.
“He’s a wartime president, mobilizing the population behind him,” Hill said. “And that will be the message around the 2024 election, depending on where things are on the battlefield.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
