Russians start to vote in election Putin will win

Putin's opponents are mostly in prison, exiled or dead

Russians vote in election Putin will win
The Kremlin controls every aspect of the voting process, including the candidates and the vote-counting
(Image credit: Contributor / Getty Images)

What happened

Russians began voting Friday in a three-day election that is all but guaranteed to hand President Vladimir Putin a fifth term.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.