Sources close to the Kremlin told Medusa they realize only the overall “contours” of the election campaign so far, but it’s already clear that the campaign will be “tailor-made for Putin.”
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“There will be no liberal candidates,” Meduza’s source told the outlet.
“Not even just for show.”
Another anonymous source explained that typically, campaign preparations for these staged “elections” begin about a year and a half before the date: first, the overall “contours” of the campaign are decided; then political consultants are appointed to “ensure” the vote in the regions. “Mobilization networks” should be established six months in advance. That means people of state-funded jobs and other reliable pro-regime voters are “mobilized” for organized turnout, while the campaign’s “ideological strategy” is finalized.
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According to Meduza, the ideological strategy of the 2024 campaign is still unknown. The only aspect of the campaign that is known so far is Putin’s focus on anti-Western narratives and fantasies about “Great Russia”. Meduza sources say that Kremlin politicians admit this rhetoric “has nothing to do with the real concerns of the voters” but only the interests of Putin himself.
“There’s hope in the Kremlin that the war in Ukraine will end in time for the election,” Meduza reported.
“Yet no one knows exactly how it’s going to end, and how to frame its ending. There should be total support — also for the sake of demonstrating the president’s popularity to the West itself.”
One of the Kremlin’s political analysts told Meduza that introducing full-fledged martial law across Russia to defer the vote would be the most “logical” and “understandable” scenario for Putin’s regime.
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“By 2024, the economic consequences of the sanctions and of Russia’s isolation will become fully evident,” the source explained, adding that he believes the above scenario ago be unlikely.
“Of course, you can present any election result you like, but why upset the population with such, well, not very credible record numbers?”
Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
