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As the citizens of Russia and occupied Ukraine prepare to cast their votes in fraudulent presidential elections this weekend, Vladimir Putin is poised to escalate the country’s military preparedness.
He has held onto power for two and a half decades, initially serving as prime minister but effectively acting as the leader from 2008 to 2012. By amending the constitution in 2020 to permit his re-election, he is likely to continue ruling for another six years, surpassing Joseph Stalin in 2029 to become the longest-serving leader in Russian history.
During his 25-year rule, he has often used his authority to stifle opposition and gain control. His upcoming fifth term is expected to continue this pattern, with an emphasis on prolonging the conflict in Ukraine.
According to John Foreman, a previous UK military representative in Moscow, the outcome of the election will likely lead to increased conflict and a lack of tranquility.
In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with a soldier during a visit to a military training center.
Currently, Russia is allocating approximately 7.5% of its gross domestic product to military expenditures, marking the highest level since the Cold War era.
According to videos shared by the Russian defense ministry, certain armament plants are utilizing a rotating 12-hour schedule in order to maintain round-the-clock production. In addition, large numbers of civilians who are not involved in combat have been recruited to create supplies for the war, and engineers have been tasked with updating old Soviet-era tanks for deployment in Ukraine.
In the immediate future, this has led to beneficial impacts on the economy of Russia; according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country is projected to experience higher growth than all G7 nations in the current year.
Economists say that the Russian society is deeply connected to the war effort and the success of the so-called “special military operation”, which refers to the invasion of Ukraine, is now considered the foundation of Russia’s prosperity.
What was once marketed as an event occurring in Ukraine, but not directly in Russia, is now proven to be inaccurate.
In the region of Belgorod in Russia, the governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced on Saturday that a man and a woman had lost their lives due to cross-border attacks from Ukraine, which have sadly become a regular occurrence. In response to the dangerous conditions, schools in the surrounding area have been shut down until Wednesday, according to Mr. Gladkov. This is the third attack within the past week.
A sight displays significant destruction at a shopping center damaged by a missile strike, which local officials identified as a Ukrainian military assault in Belgorod, Russia, during the previous month.
A drone attack from Kyiv allegedly caused a fire at the Syzran oil refinery, located in the Samara region and 530 miles southeast of Moscow, far from Ukraine. This incident is just one of many similar long-distance attacks that have occurred in the past two years.
The foreign ministry of Russia has alleged that Ukraine has increased their “terrorist activities” during the elections in order to gain more assistance and weapons from Western countries.
According to Ukrainian officials, regardless of their beliefs, the frequency of these assaults will only increase. Ukraine’s chief of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, states that there is a significant operation currently being planned for the occupied Crimea region.
The Kremlin will persist in suppressing those who speak against Putin’s war, despite its spread across the border.
Around 20,000 individuals from Russia have been detained by human rights organization OVD-Info since February 2022 for expressing their opposition towards the ongoing war. Close to one thousand of these detainees have been imprisoned for extended periods, with some even facing sentences of more than ten years. Hundreds of thousands more have been forced to leave their homes and live in exile. This pattern shows no signs of slowing down.
According to Oleg Kozlovsky, a researcher for Amnesty International, the repressive system in place has been constructed for over 20 years. However, he believes that authorities will continue to devise new laws and penalties to further restrict and increase punishments.
He also mentioned that their goal is to completely paralyze the ability of Russian civil society to express their dissent.
Footage last month showed Russian authorities dragging away those that dared to lay flowers in memory of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, for example, who died in an Arctic Circle penal colony where he was serving a lengthy sentence on trumped up charges of extremism. His allies say he was killed by the Kremlin.
It is unclear what truly happened to Mr. Navalny, but it is clear that even commemorating him is now deemed unacceptable. Any form of protest against the conflict in Ukraine is now considered a serious offense.
After all hindrances to his conflict in Ukraine have been eliminated, Putin will likely seek to challenge the determination of the West to maintain its support for Ukraine until the very end.
Important supplies of weapons from the United States and the European Union are currently being obstructed by Republicans who support Donald Trump and a leader from Hungary who is friendly towards Russia.
The November US presidential elections could have dire consequences for Ukraine if Donald Trump is reelected. He is reportedly friendly towards Russia and skeptical of Nato.
According to Mr. Foreman, who used to be a defense attache, Putin believes he is currently in a winning position and views the West as weak, leading him to feel secure within his own country.
It is not possible to predict how the war in Ukraine will end, but it is evident that Putin’s Russia is heavily involved in the ultimate result.
This information is from the website independent.co.uk.
