03/18/2024

With Putin’s New Coronation, Kremlin Cultivates Leader for Life Image

He allegedly captured 87.28 percent of the vote in the latest election

When Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared for a late-night news conference to claim a fifth term, he looked visibly elated, as if manipulating another election to remain indefinitely in power with 87.28 percent of the vote were a triumphal victory in a real competition.

The tally, virtually unimaginable in any democratic nation, suggests that the Kremlin is now less focused on manufacturing a veneer of electoral legitimacy and more on creating a cult of personality around Putin as Russia's undisputed national patriarch and leader for life.

Mark Galeotti, a Russia analyst at University College London's School of Slavonic and East European Studies, said this outcome of the vote showed that Putin's regime has shifted from an earlier model of "managed democracy" and is now "heading into its banana republic stage."

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.