Russia: Vladimir Putin up for reelection
Russian President Vladimir Putin is standing for a fifth term in office. Kremlin critics have described the election as a "parody."
Transcript
00:00 What really happened behind this fence may never be known.
00:05 Alexei Navalny, Russia's most vocal Kremlin critic and best-known opposition politician,
00:11 died in the Polar Wolf prison camp, 60 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle.
00:17 Now that Navalny's dead, Vladimir Putin no longer faces any meaningful political opposition in Russia.
00:27 Putin's been in power for 24 years.
00:31 "We've worked hard and achieved a lot."
00:34 Many of Putin's critics are dead, behind bars, or in exile, like Dmitry Gudkov.
00:40 Does Navalny's death mean the end of the Russian opposition?
00:44 We ask a one-time Duma deputy, now one of the Kremlin's fiercest critics.
00:49 "We should be more angry. We should have more rage to fight against this corrupted and criminal regime.
00:59 Because we have no choice. The regime, when it kills its opponent, it means that the regime is too weak."
01:09 Navalny's wife, Yulia, has made the surprise announcement that she will continue her husband's work from exile.
01:16 In a speech in the EU Parliament, she attacked President Putin personally and blamed him for her husband's death.
01:23 "You are not dealing with a politician, but with a bloody monster."
01:29 "Yulia is a clever, charismatic and strong woman.
01:34 Perhaps that's exactly what Russia needs now to structure the opposition — female voices of protest."
01:45 It won't be easy. Mourners from all over Russia risked arrest to pay their last respects to Navalny.
01:52 President Putin is very popular with most Russians.
01:55 The Russian economy has not collapsed, despite Western sanctions.
02:01 Moscow's metropolis sparkles, as if the war had never happened.
02:08 "We're enabling the stable development of our society and the prosperity of our citizens."
02:15 But once you leave the metropolis, the sparkle vanishes.
02:19 In many places, Russia's infrastructure is dilapidated, dating back to Soviet times.
02:25 This winter, pipes burst in several large cities, leaving thousands of Russians freezing in their homes.
02:32 "We're sitting here without heating and don't know what to do next.
02:36 Our children haven't had a hot meal for ages."
02:39 "There's scalding hot water everywhere. You can't get past.
02:43 The health center patients can't get through. Some have already burnt their feet."
02:50 But these days, hardly anyone dares to openly voice their grievances,
02:56 let alone to publicly protest against Putin's war in Ukraine.
03:00 Most people choose not to risk a ten-year prison sentence on grounds of discrediting the military.
03:07 And many believe Putin's propaganda.
03:11 He claims that in the so-called special military operation,
03:15 Russia is defending its independence against NATO.
03:19 "The most important thing uniting us is the fate of our country
03:25 and our deep understanding of this crucial milestone in Russian history
03:31 and of the great goals that our society is striving for."
03:36 Despite the mobilization of young men and the fallen soldiers,
03:40 many Russians are still behind Moscow's war plans.
03:44 "The majority is behind Putin.
03:49 Eighty percent support his plans.
03:53 But there are still 20 percent who disagree.
03:57 That would be 20 million or even more who oppose the war."
04:03 Like these women, determined to retrieve their men from the front,
04:08 they've been demonstrating for several weeks in front of Red Square,
04:12 laying flowers at the grave of the unknown soldier,
04:15 not as a ritual, but in protest.
04:19 "It's war. People are dying, simple civilians,
04:24 men who were called up as part of the mobilization.
04:28 We can't pretend that they're not dying there."
04:32 And this winter they queued for hours in the cold
04:37 to cast their vote for the only presidential candidate to publicly criticize the war,
04:42 Boris Nadezhdin.
04:44 He needed at least 100,000 signatures to get on the ballot.
04:47 He got even more, but was disqualified.
04:50 The election commission claimed there were "irregularities" in the signatures.
04:54 All other candidates are considered loyal to the Kremlin.
04:58 Some are completely unknown to the voters.
05:01 And that is exactly what President Putin is counting on,
05:04 says opposition politician Gudkov.
05:06 "You can't be very strong in comparison with no names.
05:13 But in case of a real competition, I think that Putin would lose."
05:19 But real competition is non-existent.
05:23 And for many, any dreams of reform have died with Alexei Navalny.
05:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]