WARSAW: Russian President Vladimir Putin, who announced Friday (8th of December, 2023) he is running for a fifth term, has over the past two decades built a system of domestic repression and confrontation with the West that is almost certain to guarantee his re-election.

Ever since the former little-known KGB agent first became president on New Year’s Eve 1999, he has consolidated power by bringing oligarchs to heel, banning any real opposition, and turning Russia into an authoritarian state.

Abroad, he has led world efforts to challenge the dominance of the West.

His grip on power further tightened in the wake of his decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022, with public dissent against the war effectively silenced through lengthy prison terms for critics.

Friday, the 71-year-old said after a military awards ceremony at the Kremlin that – as expected – he will run in next March’s presidential elections.

His rule has risked being defined by the war in Ukraine, which has cost many thousands of lives and sparked unprecedented Western sanctions that have created major tensions in the economy.

There were large anti-war protests in the day after he ordered troops into Ukraine in the early hours of February 24, 2022.

They were quickly put down but were followed months later by more demonstrations when the government was forced to announce a partial mobilization after Russia failed to topple Ukraine’s government in the opening offensive of the war.

The most serious challenge to his long rule came in June 2023 when Yevgeny Prigozhin, a long-time ally and head of the Wagner mercenary group announced a mutiny to unseat the military leadership.

The bloody uprising threatened to tarnish Putin’s self-created image as a strategic genius who likes to compare himself to Peter the Great – the reform-minded emperor who expanded Russia’s borders.

But in recent months, Putin has demonstrated his lasting power.

Domestic opposition has been largely silent, the economy is growing again, the Russian military has largely repulsed a recent Ukrainian offensive, and he has resumed foreign travel.

Newspakistan.tv/APP/AFP