Alen Badiou, a prominent French philosopher, once said that the fact that elections are held doesn’t mean that something actually happens. On March 18, 2018, the Russian presidential election is to be held in the territory of the Russian Federation, occupied Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Considering both the peculiarities of the electoral authoritarianism and the prevailing incumbent president’s electoral support, there are no doubts about Putin’s re-election. However, even if nothing happens, this nothing might present a scope of challenges far beyond the domestic politics of Russia.
This policy paper considers the main challenges and opportunities for Ukraine that arise from the organization of the election, with special regard to:
– the election in occupied Crimea;
– further conflict dynamic in the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts over the election period;
– state of internal affairs in the Russian Federation;
– security issues concerning Ukrainian citizens in the Russian Federation;
– Russian foreign policy agenda after the election.
You can get acquainted with the materials on the platform “Academy Online”.