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ISW: Kremlin concerned about how shifting Russian views on Ukraine war might impact 2024 presidential election

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ISW: Kremlin concerned about how shifting Russian views on Ukraine war might impact 2024 presidential election
Russian President Vladimir Putin enters the hall during the CSTO Summit in Minsk, Belarus on Nov. 23, 2023. (Contributor/Getty Images)

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will likely center his presidential campaign on Russia’s alleged domestic stability and increased criticism of the West instead of focusing on the war, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest report.

Putin and other Russian government officials have already signaled their intention to intensify censorship efforts by claiming that some Russian citizens who left Russia and others still in Russia have begun efforts to discredit the upcoming Russian presidential elections and that Russia will do “everything necessary” to prevent election meddling.

Russian authorities have also attempted to consolidate control over the Russian information space and have intensified measures encouraging self-censorship.

The ISW indicated that the war in Ukraine has created "new social tensions and exacerbated existing ones within Russia," which remain highly visible in the Russian information space despite ongoing Kremlin censorship efforts.

Russian military bloggers suggested that Russian political officials financing Telegram channels ordered bloggers to cease debates and criticisms about the Russian military prior to the Russian presidential elections. "The Kremlin has likely attempted to shore up popular support for Putin throughout Russia by establishing a network of “proxies” to campaign on Putin’s behalf," the ISW said.

Ukraine war latest: Zelensky visits Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia oblasts as harsh winter looms on front line
Key developments on Nov. 30: * Zelensky, Umerov visit military command post in Kupiansk * Zelensky travels to Zaporizhzhia, holds meeting on fortifications * Russian attacks on Donetsk, Kherson oblasts kill 3, injure 12 * Von der Leyen: 480,000 EU-made shells delivered or on the way to Ukraine…
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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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