MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin will on Monday be inaugurated for his fourth Kremlin term under the shadow of hugely strained ties with the West and a crackdown on the opposition, with Alexei Navalny and hundreds more detained at the weekend. But he has remained silent on the issue of his succession—despite this being an inevitable concern as the constitution bars him from running again when his fourth term ends in 2024. In May 2012, tens of thousands took to the streets to protest Putin’s inauguration for a third Kremlin term, with rallies descending into clashes with police. In a sign this trend would continue into Putin’s fourth term, last month the state telecoms watchdog tried to block popular messaging app Telegram and said Facebook could be next. After the annexation of Crimea, “Putin needs to change his soldiers’ boots for some trainers,” Oreshkin said.

Source: Manila Times May 06, 2018 10:52 UTC