Putin poised to rule Russia for 6 more years after an election with no other real choices

On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely prolong his almost 25 years in office for a further six years. This comes after an election that left people with little choice but to support a dictator who has brutally suppressed opposition.

There has been strict supervision over the three days of voting, which started on Friday, and criticism of Putin or his conflict in Ukraine is not permitted in public. A month ago, Putin’s most formidable political opponent, Alexei Navalny, passed away in an Arctic prison; other opponents are either imprisoned or living abroad.

The 71-year-old Russian leader is up against three token opponents from Kremlin-aligned groups that have not voiced opposition of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago or of his 24-year rule. In the lead-up to the election, Putin has taken pride in Russian military victories; yet, an early Sunday large drone assault over Russia served as a reminder of Moscow’s difficulties.

35 Ukrainian drones were shot down last night, according to the Russian Defence Ministry, with four of them falling close to the Russian capital. According to Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, there were no injuries or damages.

Despite harsh Western sanctions, Russia’s economy has grown during the war. As a major growth engine, the Russian defence sector has been producing missiles, tanks, and ammunition nonstop.

Those who are against Putin or the war have been exhorted by the dispersed opposition in Russia to voice their disapproval by voting on Sunday at noon. The strategy was endorsed by Navalny not long before his death.

Voting is taking place at polling stations across the vast country’s 11 time zones, in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine, and online. Despite tight controls, at least a half-dozen cases of vandalism at polling stations were reported Friday and Saturday.

A 50-year-old university professor was imprisoned Saturday for 15 days after she tried to throw green liquid into a ballot box in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg, local news site Ura.ru reported. In Podolsk, a town close to Moscow, a woman was fined 30,000 rubles ($342) and charged with “discrediting the Russian army” after spoiling her ballot with an unspecified message, according to OVD-Info, a police monitoring group.

Ahead of the election, Putin cast his war in Ukraine, now in its third year, as a life-or-death battle against the West seeking to break up Russia.

Putin has boasted about recent gains in Ukraine, where Russian troops have made slow advances relying on their edge in firepower. Ukraine has fought back by intensifying cross-border shelling and raids, and by launching drone strikes deep inside Russia.

Air raid sirens sounded multiple times Saturday in the Russian border city of Belgorod, where two people were killed by Ukrainian shelling, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had thwarted attempts to enter the country by “Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups,” following claims by Ukraine-based Russian opponents of the Kremlin last week that they had made an armed incursion into the Belgorod and Kursk regions.

Western leaders have derided the election as a travesty of democracy.

Beyond the lack of options for voters, the possibilities for independent monitoring are very limited. No significant international observers were present. Only registered, Kremlin-approved candidates, or state-backed advisory bodies, can assign observers to polling stations, decreasing the likelihood of independent watchdogs.