Mr. Putin is sure to win the 2018 Russian presidential election

Putin will win the "knock-out" in the Russian presidential election

The results of a public opinion survey recently announced by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) show that if the Russian presidential election were held next Sunday, President Putin would win an absolute victory with 81.1% of the vote.

The candidate of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Pavel Grudinin, received 7.6% of the vote. Meanwhile, the representative of the Liberal Democratic Party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, received 4.2% of the vote. Some other presidential candidates received less than 1% of the vote.

A survey conducted last week showed that 67% of Russians polled said they would vote in the presidential election. Fifteen percent were undecided and only three percent said they would not vote.

However, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Liberal Democratic Party expressed disagreement with the poll results, saying that opinion polls conducted by these parties themselves are more reliable.

In particular, a telephone survey conducted by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation showed that 10% of Russians surveyed said they would vote for the party's candidate, Pavel Grudinin, who is running for President for the first time.

The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia has even more confidence in its representative, although Vladimir Zhirinovsky has run for the Kremlin five times, but has never received more than 10% of the vote.

The Russian Central Election Commission has received more than 60 applications to run for president. On December 27, President Vladimir Putin personally submitted his re-election application.

At his 2017 annual press conference on December 14, President Putin said he would run for re-election as an independent candidate, not on a party list, but he hoped to gain the support of parties and the majority of people.

Elections will spark an explosion in Russia-Ukraine tensions

On December 18, the Russian presidential election campaign officially began. Previously, the Federation Council (upper house) of Russia approved the presidential election date of March 18, 2018 - coinciding with the time when the Crimean Peninsula was annexed by Russia in 2014.

Russian media quoted diplomatic sources as warning that a storm would arise, and that anti-Russian groups in Ukraine would even take strong action on this occasion. Diplomatic sources were not sure whether Russia would open ballot boxes in Ukraine for security reasons.

Russia’s Central Election Commission has advised its citizens in Ukraine to return home before the election, saying “no one can guarantee the security of Russian citizens”.

These concerns and warnings are not unfounded as the State Duma (Russian lower house) election in September 2016 witnessed strong opposition and violent protests in Ukraine.

Ukrainian police at the time struggled to control protesters who tried to prevent Russian diplomats and citizens in Ukraine from voting.

The Ukrainian government has sent a note to Russia, affirming that it is impossible to hold State Duma elections in Crimea.

In response, Russia stated that “Crimea is an inseparable part of Russia, and the decision to hold elections there is the prerogative of the Russian Federation. Kiev’s decision is a violation of the norms of etiquette and the principles of civilized communication between peoples. Ukraine is deliberately straining bilateral relations.”

Diplomatic relations between Russia and Ukraine have been strained since 2014 when the Crimean peninsula was annexed by Russia and Kiev also accused Moscow of involvement in the conflict in the east of its neighboring country.

This has led to an escalating confrontation between Russia and the US and the West. Since the annexation of Crimea, the US and the European Union (EU) have maintained harsh economic sanctions targeting key sectors of Russia.

Moscow also retaliated with agricultural and energy sanctions against the EU and the US. However, these reciprocal sanctions are a double-edged sword that has caused serious consequences for both Russia and Western powers./.

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