Putin
..To “undermine American power”, an expert has warned
Putin sealed his control over Russia for six more years on Monday with a highly orchestrated landslide in an election that followed the harshest crackdown on the opposition and free speech since Soviet times. Russia’s Central Election Commission said that with nearly 100% of precincts counted, Putin got 87% of the vote.
Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said that nearly 76 million voters cast their ballots for Putin, his highest vote tally ever. Putin used the state TV channels to hail the victory as a triumph and claimed it was far more advanced than the US, claiming Russia’s use of online voting brought in eight million voters.
“It’s transparent and absolutely objective,” he suggested, “not like in the US with mail-in voting… you can buy a vote for $10.”
Dr. Maria Ryan, Associate Professor of American History at the University of Nottingham, exclusively told The Mirror Putin is trying to “encourage” the narrative of a “stolen” election to help boost Trump’s support as he views him as “incompetent.”
She said: “Putin may well try to intervene in the US election again, as he did in 2016, to try to ensure a Trump victory; encouraging the narrative of a ‘stolen’ 2020 election may well be a part of this because the narrative is popular with Trump’s base. More broadly, however, Putin is trying to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the US electoral process because if US elections lack legitimacy this is embarrassing for Washington and makes it more difficult for the US to criticise the internal affairs of other countries.
“Putin also knows that Trump is far less interested in cultivating alliances. US allies are now questioning whether the US is still a reliable ally. A Trump victory will definitely weaken US alliances in Europe and Asia – a boon to Russia.
Putin is trying to “encourage” the narrative of a “stolen election”.
“The irony is that Trump appears to admire Putin as a ‘strong’ leader. He does not realise that Putin wants a Trump victory because he views Trump as incompetent and uninformed about international affairs, which is likely to undermine American power in the world.”
With Putin winning another landslide, it puts the Russian leader in a “strong position” to continue the war in Ukraine, according to Dr Ryan, with many Republicans refusing to rubber-stamp military aid. Dr Ryan added: “Another term in office for Putin puts more pressure on the US Congress to sanction a new package of military aid to Ukraine if it wants Kyiv to keep fighting.
“Although the Russian election was not free or fair, the outcome put Putin in a strong position to continue the war. In Russia, the fate of Ukraine is seen as a vital national interest.
“In the US, however, opinion is increasingly divided over how important Ukraine really is to the United States. While most Democrats and some Republicans firmly support a new aid package for Ukraine, a growing minority does not.
“They don’t see Ukraine as a vital national interest and think European countries should do more of the heavy lifting. We do not know what the outcome of this debate will be. Republicans opposing aid to Ukraine will not want to be seen as backing down as result of pressure from Putin; at the same time, Trump has made it clear that he does not support continuing with high levels of aid and his influence in the party is now unrivalled.”
