(EDM) The presidential elections in Ukraine last Sunday (March 31) were derided, denigrated and ridiculed by Russian propaganda, but they still marked a striking contrast with the severely controlled politics in Russia. In an odd historical coincidence, the last meaningful and even fateful elections Russia saw happened exactly 30 years ago, when Mikhail Gorbachev, driven by a desire to modernize the sclerotic state, opened up the super-rigid Soviet system—only to find it crashing down around him less than three years later (Novaya Gazeta, March 25). His modern-day successor, Russian President Vladimir Putin secured a new term in the Kremlin for himself a year ago, in a crudely manipulated electoral farce. The 2018 Russian presidential election cannot be compared with the uniquely competitive and fear-free contest that Ukraine is undertaking despite the war, which has turned parts of its Donetsk and Luhansk regions into violent badlands (RBC, March 28). Whatever the outcome of the second round (scheduled for April 21, and apparently pitting first round winner Volodymyr Zelenskiy against incumbent Petro Poroshenko), the Ukrainian challenge to the autocratic and repressive political system in Russia is strong and direct. […]
Read More © Eurasia Daily Monitor
