Putin wants to use "record election victory" to prolong war in Ukraine – ISW

Experts from the Institute for the Study of War believe that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is trying to use his "record victory" in the presidential "elections" as a precondition for a protracted war in Ukraine.

Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW)

Details: Analysts say that Putin is trying to use the claimed record voter turnout and support for his candidacy to create information preconditions for a protracted war in Ukraine.

Putin and senior Russian officials claimed that the record voter turnout and high public support for Putin demonstrated Russia's unity and trust in Putin.

The Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) announced on 18 March that Putin had won the presidential election with 87.28% of the vote.

Ella Pamfilova, the head of the Russian CEC, said that the voter turnout in the elections in Russia was 77.44%, which was a record number.

The Russian CEC has announced that voter turnout in the 2018 presidential election in Russia was 67.47%, with Putin winning with 76.67% of the vote.

In addition, the commission said that Putin received between 88.12 and 95.23 per cent of the vote in occupied Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts and Crimea.

The review indicates that Russian occupation officials are likely to have falsified the record high support for Putin in occupied Ukraine and likely forced Ukrainian citizens to participate in the "elections", which were essentially coercive given the large number of Russian troops operating in occupied Ukraine.

Experts also add that Putin is likely to continue his efforts to create information conditions to justify the continued occupation of Ukraine's territories under the guise of "protecting" civilians who are in danger only because of the Russian invasion.

To quote the ISW’s Key Takeaways on 18 March:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed occupied Crimea 10 years ago, setting conditions for the full conquest of Ukraine Putin still seeks.
• Russian occupation authorities have consistently oppressed Ukrainians on the peninsula — the same charge of which Putin accused the Ukrainian government to justify his invasion — and Russia has since militarised Crimea to support its broader territorial ambitions against Ukraine.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin is attempting to use claimed record levels of voter turnout and support for his presidential candidacy to set informational conditions for a protracted war in Ukraine.
• Putin responded to French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent proposals to send Western troops to Ukraine by claiming that NATO personnel are already in Ukraine.
• Putin reemphasised the idea of a "sanitary zone" in Ukraine in a manner congruent with Russian Security Council Deputy Chair Dmitry Medvedev’s recent call for the total elimination of Ukrainian statehood and absorption into the Russian Federation.
• Putin admitted that the all-Russian pro-Ukrainian volunteer forces are comprised of Russian citizens amid the continuation of cross-border raids into Belgorod Oblast on 18 March.
• Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Spokesperson Maria Zakharova baselessly accused Ukraine of conducting the reported 17 March drone strike against a military base in Transnistria, the pro-Russian breakaway republic of Moldova, likely as part of an ongoing Kremlin hybrid operation aimed at destabilising Moldova.
• Russian forces recently made a marginal confirmed advance in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia needs to form a veteran-led Russian "Administrative Corps" as part of the "Time of Heroes" initiative, which will incorporate Russian veterans into the Russian workforce.

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