Ever since February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Russian economy has consistently defied the dire predictions of critics – and that resilience appears to be holding firm.
At the start of the war, the International Monetary Fund expected a prolonged recession, forecasting the economy to contract by 8.5 percent in 2022 and 2.3 percent in 2023. While Russia’s economy did shrink in 2022, the contraction was just 1.2 percent, according to government figures.
Last year, the economy officially grew 3.6 per
President Putin has urged Russian voters to step out of houses and vote in order to prove their solidarity to its government and its soldiers in the turbulent times. Over 114 million Russian citizens are eligible to vote. People in the four regions in Ukraine that Russian annexed in September 2022 are eligible to vote as well.
Putin is widely predicted to win a fifth term. Assuming he serves the full six years until 2030, if taken together with his time as prime minister from 2008 to 2012, he would become the longest reigning Russian leader since Joseph Stalin.
ANI reported that Russian citizens residing in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram cast their votes for the Russian presidential elections at the booth arranged at the Honorary Consulate of the Russian Federation, Russian House.
We know, given the track record of how votes are being prepared and organised in Russia under the current Kremlin administration and regime, how this will look like," said European Union spokesman Peter Stano, as reported by AFP.
"We know already that opposition politicians are in jail, some are killed, and many are in exile, and actually also some who tried to register as candidates have been denied that right" Stated the NATO secretary general.
What about opposition?
No legitimate opposition candidate has been permitted to appear on the ballot. Putin is officially pitted against three candidates endorsed by the Kremlin, representing political parties aligned with his policies and loyal to his leadership.
