In a released video on Friday, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s foreign intelligence chief expressed the need for Russia’s spies to take action to prevent any foreign interference in the upcoming March presidential election. This follows Putin’s announcement earlier in the month that he would run in the election, guaranteeing him several more years in power.
Having taken over the presidency from Boris Yeltsin at the end of 1999, Putin has held the position longer than any other ruler since Josef Stalin, even surpassing Leonid Brezhnev’s 18-year tenure.
Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), emphasized the importance of preventing external interference in the upcoming election in a video message, calling it a significant political event in the New Year.
Opposition politicians view the election as a mere facade of democracy used to conceal what they perceive as a corrupt dictatorship in Putin’s Russia.
However, Putin’s supporters refute this perspective, citing independent polling that indicates his approval ratings exceed 80%. They argue that Putin has restored order and some of the influence that Russia lost during the tumultuous period following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Gareth Jones)
