Vladimir Putin was inaugurated as the president of Russia for a fifth term on Tuesday following his landslide victory in the presidential elections. The incumbent Putin won with a whopping 87 percent vote share. It’s the highest vote share grabbed by any president in Russia so far. His nearest Communist rival Kharitonovhas won a meagre 4.3 percent votes. This highlights that Putin’s popularity and euphoria in Kremlin is far from over. It’s interesting to witness how Putin’s fifth term will impact the global political landscape.
If Putin continues in office until 2030, he will carve history by becoming the longest serving leader of Russia after Joseph Stalin. Putin as a leader is often dubbed as an authoritarian-imperialist who is always on toes to take the West head on. Despite unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia by West, Putin has ceaselessly continued his war exercise in Ukraine since February 2022. This was possible because in Russia a president is at the helm of vertical power structure where all three branches of power are concentrated into one executive branch.
Before Ukraine invasion, Russia had already invaded Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in March 2014. It was largely believed to be an attempt of yielding political clout while confronting the West. Russia under Putin seems to be obsessed of gaining its lost superpower status following Soviet disintegration into 15 countries. Russia didn’t want to lose Ukraine as a buffer state and Zelensky’s attempts to join NATO had further irked Russian president.
Putin is also blamed of cornering Russia as a pariah state on world map due to his frequent war attempts. Putin has reiterated that, “If war is inevitable, Russia will be first to give the punch.” One wonders if Putin wants to kick arms race in West.
Only time will tell whether Putin’s fifth term will see a fresh start for Russia in Ukraine and the West. Switzerland will host peace talks in June for ending Ukraine war. These talks are mediated by China. Will Russia participate in these talks is worth watching. China is a natural ally for Russia not only due to her economic and diplomatic ties but also because of its geographical location. Russia shares with China a border of 4209 kilometres.
Other countries such as Iran, Belarus, Syria, and India are also time tested friends of Kremlin. Russia has a new found ally in North Korea. Syria is most loyal of Russiain Middle East. China is Kremlin’s biggest global partner. India and Russia has historic ties too. Since India’s PM Narendra Modi has lost his US friend in Trump with Joe Biden taking over as US president, chances are more that India will also support Putin as its new political ally. Putin and Biden are biggest adversaries on global platform today.
Russia follows Orthodox Christianity and hence she is always under impression that she has a right to lead other Orthodox countries such as Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova, North Macedonia and others as Russia is believed to be strongest existing Orthodox Christian country in the world.
To counter NATO, Russia had formed CSTO in 2002. Countries such as Armenia, Belarus, Kazakistan, Kyrgistan, and Tajikistan are presently members of CSTO. One of the formidable tasks before Putin is also to bolster image of CSTO as a military alliance against NATO.
Russia has a Muslim population of 1, 80,000 as on May 2024. She can’t afford to sour her ties with 57 Islamic countries in the world. Putin also enjoys support of his Chechan Islamic Republic with Ramzan Kadyrov as his most trusted ally. Putin is sanguine to carry forward the political legacy of Boris Yeilstein to mould Russsia as a super power once again. He will lead Russia till 2030. He will be eligible to seek reelection again.
(Writer is a Public Speaker, Poet, National level debater and orator)
