WARSAW: Russian President Vladimir Putin, who’s working for a fifth time period in workplace this week, has over the previous twenty years constructed up a system of home repression and confrontation with the West that’s nearly sure to ensure his re-election.
Ever because the beforehand little-known KGB agent turned president on New 12 months’s Eve 1999, he has consolidated energy by bringing oligarchs to heel, banning any actual opposition and turning Russia into an authoritarian state.
His most prolific critic, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic jail colony final month in mysterious circumstances.
Different opponents are serving prolonged jail sentences or have fled into exile.
Overseas, 71-year-old Putin has spearheaded efforts to problem the dominance of the West.
His grip on energy tightened additional after he invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with public dissent in opposition to the battle successfully silenced by court docket proceedings and imprisonment.
His rule dangers being outlined by the battle in Ukraine, which has value many hundreds of lives and sparked unprecedented Western sanctions which have created main tensions within the Russian financial system.
There have been giant anti-war protests within the days after he ordered troops into Ukraine within the early hours of February 24, 2022.
They had been shortly quashed.
However there have been extra demonstrations months later when the federal government was pressured to announce a partial mobilisation, after Russia didn’t topple Ukraine’s authorities within the opening offensive of the battle.
Probably the most critical problem to Putin’s lengthy rule got here in June 2023, when Yevgeny Prigozhin, a long-time ally and head of the Wagner mercenary group, introduced a mutiny to unseat Russia’s army management.
The bloody rebellion threatened to tarnish Putin’s self-created picture of a strategic genius — uncomfortable for a ruler who likes to match himself to Peter the Nice, the reform-minded emperor who expanded Russia’s borders.
However in latest months, Putin has demonstrated his lasting energy.
Home opposition has been largely silent, the financial system is rising once more, the Russian army is gaining floor in east Ukraine, and he has resumed overseas journey.
Putin began out as an intelligence officer earlier than embarking on a political profession within the mayor’s workplace in his native Saint Petersburg in 1991, because the Soviet Union was falling aside.
Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first president, appointed him as head of the FSB safety service in 1998 and as prime minister the next 12 months.
It was a fastidiously deliberate technique, culminating in his nomination as appearing president when Yeltsin resigned.
Putin received his first presidential election in March 2000 and a second time period in 2004.
His rise initially spurred hopes that Russia would reform and turn into a predictable, democratic accomplice to the West on the worldwide stage.
Putin gained reputation by promising stability to a rustic nonetheless reeling from a decade of humiliation and financial chaos following the Soviet collapse.
After two stints as president, Putin switched again to being prime minister in 2008 to avoid a constitutional ban on holding greater than two consecutive phrases as head of state.
However he saved the reins of energy firmly in hand and returned to the presidency in 2012 regardless of pro-democracy protests in Moscow, successful a fourth time period in 2018.
He jailed his loudest rival, Alexei Navalny, in 2021 and saved him in jail for 3 years till his dying below opaque circumstances in February 2024.
The clampdown on opposition actions ramped up after the launch of hostilities in Ukraine.
Hundreds of Russians had been handed lengthy jail sentences utilizing newly bolstered censorship legal guidelines.
The West imposed sanctions that successfully minimize off Russia from the worldwide banking system, including to the Russian management’s siege mentality.
In October 2023, Putin accused Europe of making a “new Iron Curtain” and stated Russia was constructing “a brand new world” that may not be primarily based on Western hegemony.
He has additionally more and more pushed a home agenda of nationalism and social conservatism, together with most just lately legal guidelines in opposition to Russia’s LGBTQ group.
Persona non grata amongst Western leaders after the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian strongman has sought to pivot east, wooing India and China with elevated vitality exports.
After shrinking in 2022, the Russian financial system started to develop once more final 12 months regardless of excessive inflation, a weakening of the ruble and a drastic enhance in defence spending.
The battle failed in its preliminary goals to topple Ukraine’s authorities and Russia was pressured right into a collection of humiliating setbacks by the decided defence of the a lot smaller Ukrainian military.
However, with the battle now in its third 12 months, Putin has been talking with elevated confidence about Russia’s prospects on the battlefield — a subject he averted for a lot of months.
Russian forces have efficiently held off a much-hyped Ukrainian counter-offensive and there are growing doubts about whether or not Kyiv can maintain the entrance strains within the face of delays to much-needed Western army provides.
Wrangling in Washington in latest months has held up $60 billion in army support for Ukraine, prompting alarmed warnings from the US administration.
In February, Russian forces captured the previous Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka, handing Moscow its first main territorial achieve in over a 12 months of combating for the city.
The Kremlin chief struck a defiant tone in his state of the nation tackle nearly two weeks later, vowing his troops would battle till the tip.
“They won’t again down, is not going to fail and won’t betray,” Putin stated.
Ever because the beforehand little-known KGB agent turned president on New 12 months’s Eve 1999, he has consolidated energy by bringing oligarchs to heel, banning any actual opposition and turning Russia into an authoritarian state.
His most prolific critic, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic jail colony final month in mysterious circumstances.
Different opponents are serving prolonged jail sentences or have fled into exile.
Overseas, 71-year-old Putin has spearheaded efforts to problem the dominance of the West.
His grip on energy tightened additional after he invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with public dissent in opposition to the battle successfully silenced by court docket proceedings and imprisonment.
His rule dangers being outlined by the battle in Ukraine, which has value many hundreds of lives and sparked unprecedented Western sanctions which have created main tensions within the Russian financial system.
There have been giant anti-war protests within the days after he ordered troops into Ukraine within the early hours of February 24, 2022.
They had been shortly quashed.
However there have been extra demonstrations months later when the federal government was pressured to announce a partial mobilisation, after Russia didn’t topple Ukraine’s authorities within the opening offensive of the battle.
Probably the most critical problem to Putin’s lengthy rule got here in June 2023, when Yevgeny Prigozhin, a long-time ally and head of the Wagner mercenary group, introduced a mutiny to unseat Russia’s army management.
The bloody rebellion threatened to tarnish Putin’s self-created picture of a strategic genius — uncomfortable for a ruler who likes to match himself to Peter the Nice, the reform-minded emperor who expanded Russia’s borders.
However in latest months, Putin has demonstrated his lasting energy.
Home opposition has been largely silent, the financial system is rising once more, the Russian army is gaining floor in east Ukraine, and he has resumed overseas journey.
Putin began out as an intelligence officer earlier than embarking on a political profession within the mayor’s workplace in his native Saint Petersburg in 1991, because the Soviet Union was falling aside.
Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first president, appointed him as head of the FSB safety service in 1998 and as prime minister the next 12 months.
It was a fastidiously deliberate technique, culminating in his nomination as appearing president when Yeltsin resigned.
Putin received his first presidential election in March 2000 and a second time period in 2004.
His rise initially spurred hopes that Russia would reform and turn into a predictable, democratic accomplice to the West on the worldwide stage.
Putin gained reputation by promising stability to a rustic nonetheless reeling from a decade of humiliation and financial chaos following the Soviet collapse.
After two stints as president, Putin switched again to being prime minister in 2008 to avoid a constitutional ban on holding greater than two consecutive phrases as head of state.
However he saved the reins of energy firmly in hand and returned to the presidency in 2012 regardless of pro-democracy protests in Moscow, successful a fourth time period in 2018.
He jailed his loudest rival, Alexei Navalny, in 2021 and saved him in jail for 3 years till his dying below opaque circumstances in February 2024.
The clampdown on opposition actions ramped up after the launch of hostilities in Ukraine.
Hundreds of Russians had been handed lengthy jail sentences utilizing newly bolstered censorship legal guidelines.
The West imposed sanctions that successfully minimize off Russia from the worldwide banking system, including to the Russian management’s siege mentality.
In October 2023, Putin accused Europe of making a “new Iron Curtain” and stated Russia was constructing “a brand new world” that may not be primarily based on Western hegemony.
He has additionally more and more pushed a home agenda of nationalism and social conservatism, together with most just lately legal guidelines in opposition to Russia’s LGBTQ group.
Persona non grata amongst Western leaders after the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian strongman has sought to pivot east, wooing India and China with elevated vitality exports.
After shrinking in 2022, the Russian financial system started to develop once more final 12 months regardless of excessive inflation, a weakening of the ruble and a drastic enhance in defence spending.
The battle failed in its preliminary goals to topple Ukraine’s authorities and Russia was pressured right into a collection of humiliating setbacks by the decided defence of the a lot smaller Ukrainian military.
However, with the battle now in its third 12 months, Putin has been talking with elevated confidence about Russia’s prospects on the battlefield — a subject he averted for a lot of months.
Russian forces have efficiently held off a much-hyped Ukrainian counter-offensive and there are growing doubts about whether or not Kyiv can maintain the entrance strains within the face of delays to much-needed Western army provides.
Wrangling in Washington in latest months has held up $60 billion in army support for Ukraine, prompting alarmed warnings from the US administration.
In February, Russian forces captured the previous Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka, handing Moscow its first main territorial achieve in over a 12 months of combating for the city.
The Kremlin chief struck a defiant tone in his state of the nation tackle nearly two weeks later, vowing his troops would battle till the tip.
“They won’t again down, is not going to fail and won’t betray,” Putin stated.
