Russia: Duma elections begin – Putin is afraid

The question of what will happen after the elections causes much more excitement and rumors.

Traditionally, it is customary not to “stir up” the population before elections, i.e. not to take unpopular measures, such as new mobilization or tightened internet restrictions. By the way, there is now no problem with the Internet in the regions, even after drone attacks. Things were different in the spring around Victory Day.

The fear of mobilization is being strongly stoked by Putin himself. He has said several times that no mobilization is planned. The more he repeats this, the more confident he becomes that something bad will happen.

The organization “Kovcheg” (in German “the ark”, editor’s note), which supports Russians in emigrating, reports a sharp increase in inquiries, the number of which has even increased tenfold in some areas.

Of course, this cannot be compared to the exodus of 2022, when a million people fled the country. But the mood of the people can be clearly read here.

Since after four years of war in Russia there are only those left who, for various reasons, do not want to leave, the following trick is currently popular: men take vacation for the period after the “elections” in order to wait a few months in a safe distance.

Aside from the function of “satisfying the boss,” elections also have important practical significance. According to political scientist Ekaterina Schulman, elections check how well the state system works. If the regional authorities managed to “drive” the population to vote and manipulate the correct results, then they can also be entrusted with other important tasks, for example, “driving” people to war.

“Don’t be afraid of the evolution of the AI?” a student asked Putin at a meeting with voters. As if we had no other problems.

“I’m not afraid of anything!” Putin answered as expected.

But that’s not true at all. He is very afraid. And these well-staged “encounters with the people” are proof of this.