While Putin is all but guaranteed to win, war fatigue, electoral engineering and extreme risk-aversion suggest that the Kremlin is anxious to get these elections over and done with.
Polish public support for resettling Ukrainian refugees has slipped in recent months, while many new arrivals have had difficulty finding work that aligns with their qualifications.
Most of Vladimir Putin’s opponents are either dead, in jail or in exile. But it might just be ordinary people who can take over the battle for democracy in Russia.
Will war fatigue be a factor?
Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images
Russia appears to have seized the battleground initiative as the Ukraine war marks its second anniversary – but the conflict is far from over.
Shackled to a vision of a ‘glorious past’: Russian president Vladimir Putin celebrates Defender of the Fatherland Day, February 23 2024.
EPA-EFE/Sergei Savostyanov/Sputnik/Kremlin pool
Sylvain Barbot, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Satellite photography of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut shows block after block of destroyed buildings. Satellite radar provides a different view – a systematic look at the destruction of the whole city.
A civilian hospital building in Donetsk, Ukraine, after a Russian strike in February 2024.
EPA-EFE/NATIONAL POLICE OF UKRAINE
The erasure of Ukrainian nationhood in occupied territories and frequent denial of Ukraine’s right to exist is evidence the Russian invasion has been genocidal in nature.
Donald Trump is having influence on US foreign policy, despite not being yet elected.
The Photo Access/Alamy