• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Kremlin Spokesman Calls Presidential Election 'Costly Bureaucracy' In Rare Honest Assessment

By RFE/RL's Russian Service August 06, 2023

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to disparage the state of Russian democracy, a rare honest assessment from a man who has spent years spinning truths about elections and freedom at home.

In an interview with The New York Times, he said the Russian presidential election "is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy."

Russia will hold a presidential election next year that authoritarian President Vladimir Putin is expected to win amid the most severe political repression since Soviet times.

Peskov told The New York Times that Putin "will be reelected next year with more than 90 percent of the vote."

Putin, who has been Russia's premier leader since the end of 1999, has largely dismantled the elements of democracy and freedom that took root following the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades ago.

He has jailed opponents, co-opted the judicial system, and crushed freedom of the press, turning elections largely into farces with ballot stuffing and voting-result manipulation common features.

However, the Kremlin has continued to insist that Russian elections are fair and free. Following the publication of The New York Times article on August 6, Peskov claimed he was misquoted by the U.S. news outlet.

In an interview with the RBK news agency later in the day, Peskov tried to reframe his comments, saying that Russia "theoretically" didn't need to hold presidential elections because "it's obvious that Putin will be reelected."

It is unclear who will seek to challenge Putin in an environment where almost any criticism of the Russian leaders leads to harassment and investigations.

Russia last week extended the jail sentence of the most popular opposition leader, Aleksei Navalny, to 19 years, meaning he will remain behind bars until 2040.

Navalny, who investigated corruption in the highest echelons of the Russian government, was convicted of extremism charges that he calls nonsense.

He is just one of several opposition leaders who have been sentenced to lengthy jail terms on trumped-up charges since Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine 17 months ago.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-peskov-interview- democracy/32536544.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.