Russian propaganda targets Ukrainian defenders ahead of 2024 elections

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Many reports by the Russian media or government officials are elements of propaganda. Such reports are part of the information war conducted by the Russian Federation.

In a short spot, we see a bizarre scene. An actor playing a Ukrainian soldier tells his comrades that they need to retreat. - "Take only the most necessary things," he says to his companions.

One of the soldiers takes a dog with him - a German Shepherd. When the soldier wants to get into a vehicle with it, he hears that he "was supposed to take only the most necessary things" and a soldier kicks him.

Then we return to the trenches, where the Russians enter

- Why didn't you run away - they ask the soldier sitting with the dog and aiming their rifles at him. He answers that "he had no choice".

The Russian soldier kneels, strokes the dog, and says: "now you will have a choice", and then sticks an election leaflet with information about the presidential elections in Russia in the middle of the trench.

Russians will go to the polls from 15 to 17 March. For the first time in the history of Russia, the elections will last three days. Interestingly, voting has already started for participants in the "special military operation" fighting on the frontline in Donbas.

As noted by The Associated Press, "the presidential elections in Russia in 2024 are not expected to bring any changes to the Kremlin."

Since most opposition activists are in prisons or abroad, and many independent media are blocked, the Kremlin "maintains tight control over the country's political system".

"In the March vote, it is almost certain that the 71-year-old President Vladimir Putin will cement his position in power at least until 2030" - the analysis reads.

Russian officials first used multi-day voting in the referendum in 2020, which Putin orchestrated to push through a constitutional reform that would allow him to run for two more terms. "However, it will be the first time that multi-day voting will be used in a presidential election," stresses AP.

This will also be the first presidential election in which voters can cast their votes online, and electronic voting will be implemented in 29 regions.

The vote will also take place in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and in four regions in the southeastern part of the country, which Russia annexed after launching a full-scale invasion in 2022 – despite the fact that Russian forces do not fully control any of the four. The decision to conduct the vote in the country has been condemned by Kyiv and the West.

- Putin sees these elections as a referendum on the approval of his actions. A referendum on the approval of the war - said Alexei Navalny shortly before his death. - "Let's break his plans and make sure that on 17 March nobody is interested in a fake result, but all of Russia sees and understands: the majority's will is that Putin must go," he appealed.

Observers monitoring the presidential elections in Russia in 2024 do not have hope that the vote will be free and fair.