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Eastern Europe
March 23, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 19
Russia's President Vladimir Putin reelected in a landslide with a little help from the west
Ben Aris in Moscow
Russia's President Vladimir Putin was as expected reelected in a landslide for his fourth non- consecutive six-year term on March 18, extending his rule until at least 2024.
The president won the votes of 76.66% of the Rus- sians that participated in the election with a turnout of 67.5% — conveniently that means slight more than 50% of the entire population voted for Pu-
tin, which has been taken as a deliberate poke in the eye for the US as Putin can now claim he was elected by a simple majority of citizens, something that US President Donald Trump cannot.
However, despite the documented ballot box stuff- ing and the inevitable 99.999% for-Putin vote in the army and in places like Chechnya (a regular feature of Russian elections), there was a genuine ground- swell of support for Putin, partly driven by London’s increasingly hysterical reaction to the spy poisoning scandal in the UK that began on March 14.
Even liberal Russians are shocked at the “shut
up and go away” vitriol of the western reaction,
and sided with the Kremlin’s call for the British government to provide some evidence before it acts to “punish” Russia for the alleged assassination attempt. There is a growing weariness amongst regular Russians with the demonising of Russia
as a Bush-eque “evil empire” that has also filtered into the more sensible commentary.
“Putin’s main ally and progenitor is the weak, atomised, selfish and visionless 21st century West, which has no message for Russians other than shut up and get lost. The lack of the West
Russian President Vladimir Putin voting
as a beacon and a viable role model leaves pro- democracy forces in Russia in limbo,” journalist Leonid Ragozin, who is no friend of the Kremlin’s, tweeted the morning after the vote.
Putin has masterfully sold the idea of “fortress Russia” to the people, and he has delivered on prosperity. Now that Russia is facing an increas- ingly and openly hostile west as far as the man in the street can see, he has genuine support, even among the Russians who don't like his methods.
“I’m going to vote for Putin,” said Tatiana Aleexeva, who runs her own small recruitment agency. “It’s not that he is the best person for the job but there is no alternative. And things have been getting better. The country is going in the right direction. It is not going as fast as I would like, but this is Russia – it has never gone fast!”
Putin has always been popular with the masses, even when the rest of the government is not. At the same time, Russians have become a little tired of the opposition, as although they have been squashed and harried they have also been ineffective in offering a real alternative set of ideas, says Tom Blackwell, founder and CEO of EM Communication.
“But what is on people’s minds is what is happening in the UK at the moment and that is a much bigger issue in these elections,” Blackwell adds. “Even the most hardened anti-Putin liberals are baffled by the UK response as it looks outrageous to them – com- pletely over the top with the complete refusal to talk about evidence.”