Russia yesterday prepared to return strongman Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin for a record third term amid a tide of protests unseen since the Soviet era and mounting tensions with the West.
We are going to respond to provocations
The 59-year-old ex-KGB spy’s victory in today’s presidential ballot at this stage seems beyond doubt.
Forecasts by state pollsters show him storming to a first-round win with 60 per cent of the vote and his Communist rival Gennady Zyuganov – a dour but seasoned lawmaker who is running for the fourth time – in second place with 15 per cent.
The tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov and the flamboyant but ultimately pro-Kremlin populist Vladimir Zhirinovsky are expected to battle for third place while the former upper house speaker Sergei Mironov is tipped to finish last.
But Putin’s landslide victory may only mask an era of political uncertainty that contrasts sharply with the current prime minister’s commanding first two terms as president between 2000 and 2008.
The emotional street protests that erupted in response to a fraud-tainted December parliamentary ballot have since swelled into a broader opposition movement whose reliance on social media echoes the Arab Spring revolts.
The largest demonstrations have thus far been confined to Russia’s main cities and the authorities point to polls showing the anti-Putin cause backed by only a marginal fraction of the nation.
Yet Moscow’s role in Russia’s recent political history has been overwhelming and the city is drawing an extra 6,300 police from the surrounding regions to make sure that tomorrow’s post-election rallies do not spill over to Red Square.
“We are going to respond to provocations with the full force allowed by law,” Moscow police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev announced.
Putin himself has put a brave face on the sudden show of public displeasure by telling Western media executives he was “very happy about this situation”.
“I think this is a very good experience for Russia,” he said last week.
Putin has never before ruled from anything less than an impregnable position of power and few dare to predict how he might respond now.
“The system needs comprehensive political and economic reform. But (Putin) has neither the financial nor the political capital to accomplish this,” said Mark Urnov of the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.