Nicolas Tonev / Photo credit: STRINGER / AFP 9:09 a.m., March 16, 2024
As Russia enters its second day of presidential elections, the Kremlin has its eyes on annexed territories in Ukraine.
Territories presented as Russian, even if voting there is illegal for the international community.
But for Vladimir Putin, the objective is to add votes to legitimize the annexation of these Ukrainian regions.
Vladimir Putin does not know the uncertainty of presidential election days.
The second episode of this election takes place this Saturday, in a climate of tension, after arrests following attacks on polling stations on Friday.
But the Kremlin is mainly focused on incidents linked to the war in Ukraine.
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In particular with these incursions carried out in the Russian regions bordering Ukraine which triggered the anger of the master of the Kremlin on Friday evening.
“The aim of these militarily senseless and humanitarian-criminal attacks is to hinder the conduct of the presidential election,” declared Vladimir Putin.
"Who do they want to scare? The Russian people? This is impossible."
Show a joyful people
Vladimir Putin promises a severe response because these televisions must be able to show a joyful people, including in the four regions annexed to Ukraine and henceforth presented as Russian.
Denis Pushilin, the governor of Donetsk, played the good student Friday evening on Russian television.
"We see the faces of our people. They are bright and happy. We see the number of voters, not just in raw data. Wherever the electoral commissions work, there are queues forming immediately in front of the houses , and this happens everywhere in the territories which have been liberated very recently,” he assured.
If this vote is illegal for the international community, the Kremlin does not care since its challenge is to add millions of additional votes to participation and thus legitimize the annexation of these territories.