By Onur Sinan Güzaltan
Editorial note: This article was written before the terrorist attack in Moscow on March 22nd.
Vladimir Putin emerged victorious in the presidential elections once again.
With a record-breaking turnout of 77.44%, Putin gained 87.28% of the votes. He will lead Russia for another 6 years.
Two tangible outcomes of the elections
The election results as well as the consolidation of Putin’s power in domestic and foreign policies signify these two realities:
1. Attempts for regime change in Russia parallel to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine have failed.
2. The election campaigns and results of opposition parties, particularly the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), underscored that there is no alternative to Putin under the current circumstances.
Ideological quest accelerates
With the conclusion of the elections, it is likely that the ongoing quest for a comprehensive political program/ideology in Russia will accelerate.
Namely, Russia, together with the war against the West in Ukraine, has been taking steps to break away from the economic and political structures integrated with the West since the 1990s.
These steps, particularly taken in the economy due to Western sanctions, have been prominent. However, this new tendency, lacking a comprehensive program, hasn’t made itself felt significantly in politics, administrative structures and or cultural spheres.
Considering the current international political landscape – the possibility of open warfare between the West and Russia is increasing – the quest for an economic and social program convenient to war with the West will accelerate in the new era.
The program that will emerge from the various components of Russian political life (Nationalists, Communists, Church, Eurasianists, and Liberals, despite the latter’s influence being curtailed by the war) will either be based on a consensus highlighting commonalities among the components or result from the deepening contradictions among them with one group’s leadership.
The current political climate indicates that all political actors, except Liberals, agree on resisting Western impositions. However, it is also evident that they have different opinions, especially concerning the economy and management administrative structure.
Signs of a new era
Following the presidential elections, the discussions held between Putin and the leaders of parties in the Parliament provide clues about the agenda of the new era.
In this meeting, Putin targeted bureaucracy and those who act in the interests of corporations: “There is a lot of stupidity and injustice in our people’s lives starting at the lowest level and going all the way to the top. We cannot sit on our laurels now and say that this is all gone, that now we will take our seats as usual and will start functioning. No (…) I would like to call on you to focus on our cause instead of corporate and even party interests by selecting people for their personal and professional qualities, their ability to deliver on the objectives we will have to tackle.”[1]
In the same meeting, when Communist Party of the Russian Federation leader Gennadiy Zyuganov criticized Putin, recalling Alexey Navalny’s candidacy in the 2012 Moscow mayoral elections: “Navalny didn’t fall out of the sky. I witnessed how he was brought to this stage by some of your assistants. When he was nominated in Moscow, were you aware of what you were doing? You are bringing together individuals prepared by (foreign) intelligence agencies to blow up the country again.”
Putin’s and Zyuganov’s statements could be interpreted as the first signs of possible moves towards purging liberals within the bureaucracy who advocate for reconciliation with the West instead of war, and parallelly who safeguard the interests of the private sector.
Is Odessa the next front?
There are talks about the acceleration of Russia’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine, heading towards Odessa with the arrival of spring.
French President Macron’s emphasis on Odessa in his statements and his declaration of sending troops there also supports this.
In the current period where the direct confrontation between Russia and NATO over Ukraine is being discussed, the new ideological quest in Russia is not only significant for Russia but also for humanity.