Putin's Nightmare Election Week

President Vladimir Putin is facing trouble in his ongoing war in Ukraine, days before the country's election, which is expected to result in the Russian leader remaining in power until at least 2030.

This week has so far been tumultuous for the Russian president. On Tuesday night, the country was attacked by more than 60 Ukrainian drones, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, with targets including a Federal Security Service building in the southern Belgorod region and an oil refinery—both of which sustained damage.

Multiple incursions by Russian defectors were also launched on Russian soil. The militia groups Freedom of Russia Legion and Russian Volunteer Corps, which both back Kyiv in the ongoing war, said on Tuesday they were "on the attack."

Russian oil production is down as much as 10 percent after drone strikes on multiple key refineries and hubs, including on three of the five largest installations in the country—the Ryazan refinery, which is oil giant Rosneft's largest, as well as two others, in Kstovo in the Nizhny Novgorod region and in Kirishi in the Leningrad region.

Moscow's military has also lost some of its prized military aircraft, including an Su-27 fighter jet that crashed in the Belgorod Oblast bordering Ukraine on Tuesday, and a Il-76 transport plane, which crashed after takeoff from an airbase in the city of Ivanovo to the northeast of Moscow on the same day.

The developments come days before Russia's March 15-17 presidential election. If Putin is reelected this year, it would be his fifth term as president. Under constitutional changes made prior to the war in Ukraine, he may remain in power until 2036.

Russia's elections have historically been marred by manipulation, ballot stuffing and forced voting. Putin's biggest critics are typically barred from running for president, while opposition figures have often been jailed or are exiled.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry via email for comment.

In an interview with state-run TV channel Russia-1 and news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday, Putin accused Ukraine of carrying out its recent barrage of attacks on Russian soil with the aim of "frustrating the elections in Russia" or "interfering with them."

"Another goal is to get some kind of trump card in a possible negotiation process," he said.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky defended the attacks, saying it was "totally fair" to do so in retaliation for Russian attacks in Ukraine that have killed and injured civilians.

"I think everyone sees that our drones work and they work at long distance," Zelensky said. "Our ability for long-distance strikes is the real way to move towards security for everyone."

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov previously said that Russia's presidential election is "not really democracy" and forecast a 90 percent victory for Putin this year.

"Our presidential election is not really democracy; it is costly bureaucracy," Peskov told The New York Times in an article published on August 6, 2023. "Mr. Putin will be reelected next year with more than 90 percent of the vote."

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