MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the main target of Ukraine’s recent attacks on Russian regions is to interfere with the upcoming presidential polls in the country.
According Russia’s RIA state news agency Putin expressed these remarks during an interview. He said that the main goal is to interfere elections. He said, “I have no doubt regarding it, is to – if not to disrupt the presidential polls in Russia – then at least someway interfere with the normal process of expressing the will of Russian citizens.”
His remarks came as Ukrainian drones smashed into two oil facilities inside Russia on Tuesday, officials said, while an armed intrusion claimed by Ukraine-based Russian opponents of the Kremlin scared a border region ahead of elections.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that Russia’s military and security troops killed around 234 fighters while thwarting the intrusion. In a statement, the ministry alleged the assault on the Ukraine government insisting that the Russian army and border troops were able to halt the attackers and avert a cross-border attack.
Russian President Putin, who had launched an attack against Ukraine two years ago, is about certain to win the March 15 to 17 presidential elections. That will give the longest serving leader of Russia since Josef Stalin another six-year term in Moscow. There are around 112.3 million people with the right to vote in the Presidential elections. As per media reports, about 70-80 million people usually cast votes in the Russian elections. Turnout in last elections was 67.5%.
Who is Putin?
Putin, 71 was appointed acting president by Boris Yeltsin in 1999. He won the 2000 presidential polls with 53.0% of the vote and the 2004 elections with 71.3% of the vote. In 2008, Dmitry Medvedev ran for the office of the president while Putin served as prime minister before winning 63.6% of the vote in the 2012 presidential polls and 76.7% in 2018 elections.
