MOSCOW: Voters in Russia cast their ballots in a three-day presidential election starting Friday (March 15), with incumbent Vladimir Putin almost certain to win against his three challengers, with no one criticizing him.
The presidential election will certainly extend President White’s rule for another six years.
According to a number of Western media, Putin will be re-elected president, instead returning to power throughout the decade at least until the 2030s.
CNN International stated that Putin’s dominance over the electoral system is getting stronger as the election gets closer.
His main rival, Alexei Navalny, died in prison last month and had previously been barred from running. This also applies to the anti-war figure, Boris Nadezhdin.
Not only in Russian territory, voting will also be held in Ukrainian territory which has been occupied by Russia since 2022.
Earlier on Thursday, Russian Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev told the Tass news agency that he expected a large-scale hacker attack on voting system infrastructure during the election.
In Washington, Russia’s ambassador to the United States said on Thursday that his embassy had received a number of threats in connection with Russia’s presidential election this week.
“We received a lot of provocative calls and threats,” Russian news agencies quoted Ambassador Anatoly Antonov as saying on state television.
“We know that there are plans to carry out anti-Russian actions, around our embassies and consulates, and there will be attempts to break into our embassies.
Not to interfere with the election, because that wouldn’t work, but to make things better. it’s more difficult and only spoils our mood,” said Antonov.
