Putin and his monsters
ARTEM FILATOV
The Russian president is flipping the switch after 17 years in office.
At the start of the new presidential campaign Vladimir Putin has
already attempted to gain the sympathies of the younger generation,
but avoids facing the worrying reality created by his system.Russia is in a nervous period of transition as preparations are being made for
the next presidential election in March 2018. Vladimir Putin was already asked by
“ordinary Russians” from a village in the Buryatia region to run for office for the
fourth time since 2000. He replied that he still needed time to make his final deci-
sion, but he also indicated he does not want to retire. According to sources at the
RBC news agency, the Kremlin has already set plans for the presidential campaign
and the one and only real candidate will be Putin. Meanwhile, the president is said
to announce his decision at the end of the year during a large event in Moscow.
This presidential term that Putin will soon be completing is the first six-year
term of the Russian presidency (prior to 2012, terms were only four years). The
five and a half years of this term were tough, nervous and full of conflict – both
domestically and internationally. Russia’s aggressive foreign policy is combined with
the harsh treatment of independent media and NGOs in domestic policy. Putin
decimated the separation of powers in the early 2000s and after the 2012 election
he made the system more repressive, allowing it to intervene into the private lives
of Russian citizens.
Worrying senseThe period of confrontation started with the State Duma elections in December
2011, when the Russian middle class and creative young people demanded politi-
cal change after clear falsifications. Putin reacted to the protests in Moscow and