Vladimir Putin has formally begun his fifth term as Russia\u2019s president in a carefully choreographed inauguration ceremony, in a country he has shaped in his image after first taking office nearly a quarter of a century ago. <\/p>\n
Putin won Russia\u2019s stage-managed election by an overwhelming majority in March, securing for himself another six-year term that could see him rule until at least his 77th birthday. <\/p>\n
With most opposition candidates either dead, jailed, exiled or barred from running \u2013 and with dissent effectively outlawed in Russia since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 \u2013 Putin faced no credible challenge to his rule. <\/p>\n
The inauguration ceremony, held Tuesday in the Kremlin, was attended by Russia\u2019s top military and political brass, but the United States and many European nations declined to send a representative after dismissing Russia\u2019s elections as a sham. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe certainly did not consider that election free and fair, but he is the president of Russia and is going to continue in that capacity,\u201d US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday. <\/p>\n
Putin\u2019s first inauguration ceremony, held in 2000, was heralded as the first time in Russia\u2019s history that power within the Kremlin changed hands through an electoral process. In his speech then, Putin said his election \u201cproved that Russia is becoming a modern democratic state.\u201d <\/p>\n
Twenty-four years on, Putin has since remained in power as president or prime minister, and tinkered with Russia\u2019s constitution to remove term limits and extend each term\u2019s length from four years to six. <\/p>\n
While Putin received 53% of the vote in the 2000 presidential election, deemed by the US Embassy in Moscow to be \u201creasonably\u201d free and fair, he won 87% in March\u2019s election \u2013 a figure the US called \u201cfarcical.\u201d <\/p>\n
In the days after March\u2019s vote, Putin appeared on stage in Moscow\u2019s Red Square alongside the three opponents allowed to run against him. The men sang Russia\u2019s national anthem shoulder to shoulder, as if to confirm the illusion of competition. <\/p>\n
In a terse speech Tuesday, held the day after he again rattled his saber by announcing a non-strategic nuclear weapons exercise, Putin said Russia does not refuse dialogue with Western countries, but \u201cthe choice is theirs\u201d whether to pursue aggression or peace. <\/p>\n
\u201cDo they intend to continue trying to restrain the development of Russia, continue the policy of aggression, continuous pressure on our country for years, or look for a path to cooperation and peace?\u201d <\/p>\n
Among those in the audience were the Russian-installed leaders of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia \u2013 four occupied regions of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2022. <\/p>\n
Putin\u2019s inauguration comes as Russia is attempting to press home its vast manpower and ammunition advantages in Ukraine before the bulk of a long-delayed US aid package arrives to bolster Kyiv\u2019s depleted forces. <\/p>\n
Putin has strived to keep Russians isolated from the effects of the war, by recruiting soldiers from Russia\u2019s prisons and more rural regions and trying to keep its urban centers stuffed with goods despite Western sanctions. <\/p>\n
But pockets of dissent have pierced the veneer of normality. The most direct challenge to Putin\u2019s rule was made by then-Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin who, angered by Russian military blunders in Ukraine, ordered his mercenaries to march on Moscow in a bizarre spectacle that briefly threatened to undermine Putin\u2019s monopoly on power. Within 24 hours, Prigozhin had called off his mutiny. Two months later, he was confirmed dead in a plane crash. The Kremlin denied involvement in the incident. <\/p>\n
Alexey Navalny, Putin\u2019s most formidable political opponent, also died before the most recent election. Navalny died in an Arctic prison in February after he \u201cfelt unwell after a walk\u201d and lost consciousness \u201calmost immediately,\u201d Russia\u2019s prison service said. The Kremlin denied involvement. <\/p>\n
Putin\u2019s invasion has reshaped the world\u2019s post-Cold War geopolitical axes, prompting the West to treat Russia as a pariah state after decades of more amicable relations. <\/p>\n
But Russia has tried to forge new partnerships with countries in the \u201cGlobal South,\u201d including delivering grain to African countries after trying repeatedly to cut off Ukraine\u2019s ability to export its own produce. <\/p>\n
To ensure it has enough drones and missiles to bombard Ukraine, Russia has also entered into deeper partnerships with Iran and North Korea. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been and will be open to strengthening good relations with all countries that see Russia as a reliable and honest partner. And this is truly the global majority,\u201d Putin said Tuesday. <\/p>\n
After officially taking office, Putin will attend a parade of the Presidential Regiment on Cathedral Square in the Kremlin. The regiment is Russia\u2019s most famous elite military unit, state media reported, and military personnel of the regiment perform functions throughout the ceremonial events of the inauguration. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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