Ahead of his sham elections, Putin is trying to look like a "strong leader." That is why Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian cities and is trying to kill as many Ukrainian civilians as possible.
Putin cynically claimed that "strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities are effective and timely, helping Russian troops accomplish their combat objectives." In reality, Russia is making practically no progress on the front lines and is therefore waging terror against Ukraine’s civilian population.
Putin also said that Ukraine is "trying to intimidate Russians and disrupt the elections, but Russia will not allow this to happen."
That’s ridiculous. How can you disrupt something that does not exist?
Why does Putin need this illusion of elections?
Demonstration of legitimacy. The regime wants to show, first of all to the outside world, that it relies on formal democratic procedures.
Testing of the state apparatus. Election campaigns serve as a general check for local officials and governors. Their ability to control the situation, mobilize the electorate, and demonstrate the results needed by the Kremlin is assessed.
Cohesion of the elites. This is a signal that the current vertical of power is effective and strong.
Demonstration of support for the course. Voting is used as evidence of Russians' support for state policy and the war.
@Chuha72202477@rshereme Désolé le débile de russe, c'est une demilitarisation de l'entrepôt, les Ukrainiens ne ciblent pas les civils contrairement aux nazis russes 😘
HODGES: Until we inflict consequences on Russia for all these drones violating airspace, sabotage, disinformation and etc, it’s only going to increase, and that’s how we eventually get into more traditional war, because Russians can see that we still can’t get our shit together.
🇩🇰 PM Frederiksen: What we can see in Ukraine right now is that if you don’t have adequate air defense, you're challenged.
If you don’t have drone defense, you're challenged as well. If you can't strike back against ballistic missiles, then people are simply killed.
If we're to have ballistic missile defense so that we can protect both Ukraine and potentially our own societies, then we need cooperation across national borders.
We can produce quite a lot of the capabilities we need ourselves in Nordic countries, some we can make together with our European allies, and some with allies outside Europe.
@angelshalagina Estan poniendo a Rusia entre la espada y la pared, y al final solamente le quedará la salida que no queréis, y entonces lloraréis, la culpa de la tonta europa que quiere plantar cara a Rusia a través de vosotros, pero los muertos los pondréis vosotros
@angelshalagina Ukraine has lost its war and in desperation is lashing out at Russian civilian infrastructure, in a failing attempt to create division in Russia. Unfortunately for Ukraine, they’re only digging the hole they’re in deeper and speeding up their eventual collapse.
russian propaganda is fascinating.
Ukraine is apparently weak, destroyed and finished…
But also powerful enough to terrify
The largest country on Earth.
Pick one.