- Russia’s most well-known leader, Vladimir Putin, has held the position since 1999.
- He started his career in the KGB security agency.
- Putin served as prime minister from 2008 to 2012 before taking office as president in 2000.
Russia’s most well-known leader, Vladimir Putin, has held the position since 1999. Before entering the presidential administration in the late 1990s, he started his career in the KGB security agency.
Putin served as prime minister from 2008 to 2012 before taking office as president in 2000. Putin’s opponents are now either dead, in prison, or exile as a result of the opposition protests that silenced critical voices in 2011.
Vladimir Putin
To win over supporters at home, he has taken a nationalist stance and appealed to nostalgia for Soviet dominance. Putin portrays himself as a strongman who protected Russia’s interests at home, especially from the West and pulled the country out of the political, social, and economic catastrophe of the 1990s.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, starting the largest war in Europe since World War Two. With three other contenders who are all seen as credible—Nikolai Kharitonov, Leonid Slutsky, and Vladimir Davankov—it is anticipated that Vladimir Putin will win the Russian presidential election.
Notwithstanding their disparate political positions, these candidates generally endorse the policies of the Kremlin. Notable absentees include Yekaterina Duntsova, who is barred from running, and Boris Nadezhdin, an opponent of the Ukrainian war. Veteran lawmaker and frequent guest on state TV Boris Nadezhdin has expressed mixed feelings about Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.
The most well-known opponent of the Kremlin, Alexei Navalny, passed away in an Arctic prison colony last month. According to his admirers, he was assassinated. Moscow started a campaign to get people living in the occupied areas of Ukraine to cast ballots in the three-day election (15–17 March).
A large turnout would support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and help the Kremlin justify its ongoing rule. There are four contenders on the ballot, including Putin, but none of them stands a chance.
