Putin’s re-election made supporters believe it would bring peace to the 2024 Russian election
The re-election convinced the supporters to believe that Putin could make peace in Russia again.
Russian electors in Sergiyev Posad, a monastic city northeast of Moscow, told AFP they planned to vote for the Russian president to stop the country’s ongoing military campaign.
Moscow:
Eduard Ishnazarov voted for Vladimir Putin, the only candidate he believed could bring peace, amidst the cacophony of Russian pop music booming from polling station speakers.
In the monastery city of Sergiyev Posad, northeast of Moscow, Russians voting in this weekend’s presidential elections told AFP they intended to end the Russian leader’s military offensive by voting for him.
“I came to vote for a man who is doing everything to make sure that there is no war in the world,” said Ishnazarov, a 54-year-old, He declared that Putin was “a man who can save the world” and that he had his whole trust as the president of Russia.
With little meaningful competition, Putin is certain to strengthen his hold on power in an election he has framed as a show of support for his military assault in Ukraine.
We are currently in the third year of the offensive.
Righteous path:
Orthodox nun Sister Alexandra claimed that the military strike in Ukraine eventually “saved lives” and that she saw “no paradox” in it.
Regarding the legalization of abortion in Europe, the 77-year-old, who immigrated to Russia in 2018, continued, “Russians are for life; we don’t support death.”
Putin has advocated for “traditional family values” with the support of the Russian Orthodox Church, contrasting them with what he sees as a decadent liberal West characterized by LGBT+ rights.
The Kremlin has often claimed that it started a “special military operation” to safeguard Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.
On Saturday, officials of the local electoral commission navigated the city’s snowy roads and around the city’s iconic blue-and-gold domed monastery to reach elderly residents who had registered to vote from home.
Follow everything:
One of them, Inessa Rozhkova, aged 87, expressed dissatisfaction, claiming she could not leave her home due to the mound of snow in front of her frozen window.
“I am glad to see so many people! I rarely have visitors!” she said, leading the authorities into her living room, adorned with a holy symbol and a red carpet.
She stated she had participated in every election but one and was very interested in politics.
“I follow everything, I know everything… I watch television all the time,” she was quoted as saying.
Putin dominates Russian state television, which broadcasts his meetings, speeches, and activities for hours on end practically daily.
Peace above all:
The fate of those who lived near the front lines was something Rozhkova stated she was “constantly worried” about.
“I wish this special operation would end as soon as possible,” she remarked in Russian, referring to the offensive.
“I want this very much, above all. Can you imagine how many people have died?”
Voters in Putin’s hometown of Saint Petersburg, hundreds of kilometers away, had a similar opinion.
“What we want today, first of all, is peace,” said Lyubov Pyankova, a 70-year-old pensioner.
She was standing in front of a polling station adorned with the red, white, and blue ‘V’ emblem, a sign linked with the military offensive, which Moscow has also used to promote the vote.
A civil official named Konstantin, who desired to remain anonymous, expressed his dream that one day he would wake up and “know that people are not fighting or dying.”
However, he saw no alternative to Putin. The Kremlin prevented candidates opposing the crisis in Ukraine from being on the ballot.
In February, Putin’s most vocal opponent in the last decade, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison under mysterious circumstances. “Frankly, I understand that no one can replace him yet,” Konstantin, 46, said of Putin.
