Putin’s push: president for life

Vladimir Putin remaining in power for another 16 years — until he is 83 — is a disturbing prospect. That is what Russia’s 110 million voters are being asked to approve in the current week-long referendum. The proposal for an extended presidential term for the former KGB colonel, in power for two decades, is tucked away in a single sentence of near incomprehensible legal jargon in voting material.

Polls show Mr Putin’s popularity has fallen to historic lows during COVID-19. About 630,000 Russians have been infected, 9000 have died and millions have lost jobs. Private polling shows popular opposition to the biggest constitutional overhaul since the end of the Soviet Union, but that is not inhibiting his determination to effectively become president for life.

Voting is like a tawdry TV game show, with voters going into draws to win cars, washing machines, hairdryers and fluffy cats, and even one-bedroom apartments are being offered to those who vote for Mr Putin. Such bribery symbolises the unrelenting undermining of democratic processes in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet regime. Corruption has flourished. Russia ranks 137 out of 180 in Transparency International’s 2019 Index, a regression from 82 when Mr Putin took office. He is at an awkward juncture. He believes he cannot afford to lose office lest he lose his protection against enemies he has made and the power to keep his business and political cronies enriched. Given his control of most media and his suppression of any sign of opposition, he is set to emerge victorious. But Russia and the world deserve better than a leader who cynically manipulates political processes and was callously dishonest about his illegal invasion of Crimea and the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines MH17 over Ukraine in 2014.

Donald Trump has suggested expanding the G7 group of leading economies to include Australia, India and South Korea. He also wants Russia returned to full membership, from which it was expelled over Crimea. He should think again. Under Mr Putin’s corrupt, authoritarian rule, Russia does not belong at democracy’s top table.