Putin attempts to woo voters with menacing TV advert
VLADIMIR PUTIN directly appealed for unity ahead of the opening of polling stations in Russia following a turbulent few weeks.
He has promised to deliver a package of handouts designed to show the Kremlin cares about its citizens.
Yet there is unease about the disqualification of two anti-war candidates, the suspicious death of Alexey Navalny and intensified Ukrainian drone strikes.
“You realise what a difficult period our country is going through, what complex challenges we are facing,” Putin said in a televised address. “We need to continue to be united.”
The Kremlin wants the 71-year-old to win about 80 per cent of the vote on a turnout of 75 per cent and it has been cajoling, pressuring and persuading people to vote for him.
An advertisement on Russian TV shows a young housewife happily chopping vegetables for dinner as she quizzes her husband about his day. When he admits that he hadn’t bothered to vote, the atmosphere darkens.
“Do you want to leave your child without maternity payments?” the housewife sneers as she walks towards her husband brandishing a knife.
“And leave us without a mortgage? And where are you intending to get money for your business? You’ll get by without a subsidised loan, will you?”
Terrified and guilt-ridden, the husband scampers off to vote and the relaxed, sun-drenched atmosphere returns.
The message is that it is the patriotic duty of every good Russian to vote for Putin, who will deliver better living standards, paid for by massive handouts because Russia’s burgeoning economy has outfoxed the West’s sanctions.
The reality, though, is different, according to Western analysts. They said that life has become more fragile and more expensive for ordinary Russians and that the Kremlin’s reliance on its cash reserves and oil and gas sales cannot continue indefinitely.