“It’s not an election but a farce”, according to the former French ambassador to Moscow

“This is not an election, but a farce. There are no opponents, no free media, no independent control of the ballot boxes”, notes Sunday March 17 on franceinfo Jean-Maurice Ripert, former French ambassador to Russia, in 2013 and 2017. More than 100 million voters are called to the polls to reappoint Vladimir Putin, the Russian president having removed his opponents from the race , for a new six-year term in the Kremlin. He has ruled Russia for 24 years.

The fear of a “hardening of the regime”

“We see voters brought in by bus, and who have to vote, surrounded by armed soldiers”describes the diplomat, who fears “a hardening of the regime” after the election, after the demonstrations by opponents following the death of Alexeï Navalny.

Regarding the mobilization launched by his widow, Yulia Navalnaïa, who called on critics of Vladimir Putin to all vote at the same time, Sunday noon, Jean-Maurice Ripert explains that “the opponents need to show themselves”in order to “give hope to all those who do not come forward, thinking that 100% of the Russian population supports Putin.” The objective is to “break the false unanimity that all the dictators of the world use to make people believe that there is no alternative.”