There will be no elections: diplomat on Putin's 5th term

He expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

"Let's start from the fact that there have been no elections in Russia since 1996. That's when Yeltsin was elected for the first time, and then for the second time, and since then, elections have been over. Then there was a reappointment, and after that Putin did not hold elections. That's why there will be no elections this year. I really hope that as a result of this political circus, our Western partners will make a very correct political decision - they will recognise Putin as illegitimate, just as they recognised Lukashenko as illegitimate. And this will be an assessment of what happened there," the diplomat said.

In his opinion, we can talk about another candidate for the "elections" in Russia, which is being agreed upon behind the scenes, and this is, oddly enough, Mr Yavlinsky, who allegedly agreed to play the role played by Sobchak in the previous non-elections in Russia.

"It's hard to say how true this is, of course, but the contact was recorded. So, they talked about something. I don't think they talked about any other things than this political performance. There's no point in discussing anything else, because there are no political parties, no parliament, no elections in Russia - it's all fake. Therefore, there cannot be any other candidates from the very beginning. So we don't need to pay too much attention to this and take it seriously. In totalitarian countries, there is no such thing as elections, only reappointments. And now Russia has the same option," summed up Volodymyr Ohryzko.

• On 6 November, Reuters reported, citing its own sources, that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had decided to run in the 2024 presidential election, and that his advisers were already preparing for the campaign.
• On 9 November, ISW analysts noted that Putin is likely to avoid the war in Ukraine during his 2024 presidential campaign. Instead, he will focus on the alleged "stability" in Russia and criticism of the West.
• On 20 November, Russian media reported that the Kremlin had told the regions what result Putin should have in the 2024 elections.