GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Voting for a Russia Without Putin

Mar 16, 2018 | 15:14 GMT

A billboard with an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin reads "Strong president - Strong Russia" in St. Petersburg on Jan. 12, 2018.

A billboard in St. Petersburg with an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin reads "Strong president - Strong Russia." The country's presidential election is March 18, and the odds are stacked in Putin's favor.

(OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP/Getty Images)

Note From the Interviewer

Russian voters will head to the polls this weekend to choose their next president, but most seem to think the decision has already been made for them. After all, there are few viable challengers to stop incumbent President Vladimir Putin from sweeping the March 18 election and winning a fourth term in office. One journalist and opposition lawmaker from St. Petersburg, however, isn't so sure of the vote's outcome. "There's always a grain of unpredictability in an election," Boris Vishnevsky cautioned as I sat down with him to dig deeper into the logic behind his lonely dissent.

Russian voters will head to the polls this weekend to choose their next president, but most seem to think the decision has already been made for them. After all, there are few viable challengers to stop incumbent President Vladimir Putin from sweeping the March 18 election and winning a fourth term in office. One journalist and opposition lawmaker from St. Petersburg, however, isn't so sure of the vote's outcome. "There's always a grain of unpredictability in an election," Boris Vishnevsky cautioned as I sat down with him to dig deeper into the logic behind his lonely dissent....

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