ASSESSMENTS

How Putin Needs His Russian Opposition

Mar 5, 2018 | 19:58 GMT

Russian President Vladimir Putin is all but certain to win a fourth term in office.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a ceremony to present a national award and to mark the Defender of the Fatherland Day at the Kremlin in Moscow on Feb. 23, 2018.

(ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

Though Vladimir Putin is all but certain to win a fourth term in office, he will face pivotal challenges — particularly demographic and economic — in that term, which will force the Kremlin to plan reforms for the longer term.
With Russia facing difficulties, opposition factions will gain importance and advance viewpoints that the Kremlin cannot ignore.
The government will mold new relationships with some opposition factions, while allowing other prominent groups to provide safety valves to release pressure from a dissatisfied population.

The result is not in doubt: Russian President Vladimir Putin will win a fourth term in office when voters go to the polls later this month. After close to two decades in power, the head of state enjoys a significant degree of popular support, and most opinion polls give him at least 40 to 60 percent of the popular vote. These days, however, not everything is going the Kremlin's way -- from increasing social tensions to rising poverty, Moscow is facing a host of challenges whose solutions do not lie in flashy patriotic stunts or propaganda. And with a number of opposition viewpoints likely to become an even greater thorn in the Kremlin's side, Putin will have no choice but to address such concerns after his latest coronation....

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