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Consider This from NPR

What Another Putin Term Means For Ukraine

Consider This from NPR

NPR

News, Daily News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Vladimir Putin has ruled Russia for a quarter century. This weekend's election results confirmed that he will reign for another six years.

Putin's hold on the Kremlin gives him control of the world's largest nuclear arsenal and a military that's been at war in Ukraine for more than two years, ever since he launched an invasion in February 2022.

That war has killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, but despite these losses, the Russian military is pressing forward.

Ukraine faces the stark prospect of a fight in which key US military assistance is in question. So what will six more years of Vladimir Putin mean for the war in Ukraine? And where do both militaries stand at this point in that brutal war?

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Russia's presidential vote over the weekend felt a bit like a carnival at times.

0:08.0

There were songs, gimmicks, even giveaways from the Kremlin, like iPhones, cars, and apartments to draw out

0:15.8

voters.

0:16.9

114 million people came out to vote across 11 time zones, and as expected, Vladimir Putin won an unprecedented fifth term.

0:27.0

A pensioner named Vladimir said it's how it's always been done. In Russia, we vote for our leaders and will do so again.

0:37.5

He declined to give his last name to correspondent Charles Mainz out of fear of reprisals. But there was also dissent at the polls.

0:45.0

Dozens of Russians were arrested for protests that included setting voting booths on

0:52.0

fire and pouring liquid dye on ballot boxes,

0:55.9

all in apparent frustration that this election wasn't a free or fair election at all.

1:01.5

Real, if we're president's selenia, fair election at all. That's a voter named Sergei who was sitting out the

1:07.4

election because he said he thought the whole thing was rigged. He said in

1:11.2

reality 75% of Russians are actually against the war in Ukraine and against a president who is leading the country to ruin.

1:19.0

Consider this. Vladimir Putin is about to serve a fifth term as Russia's president.

1:25.2

What will his leadership mean for a brutal ongoing war in Ukraine? From NPR, I'm Sasha, I'm Sasha Fiver.

1:37.0

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Wise, the account that helps you manage your money all around the world.

1:45.0

You want your money to move fast, especially across borders.

1:48.0

That's why Wise built the best way to send, spend, and receive money internationally, min fees, max ease, full speed.

1:55.5

Learn more about how the WISE account could work for you by downloading the app.

2:00.3

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Wies, the account that helps you manage your money all around the world.

2:07.0

You want your money to move fast, especially across borders.

2:10.0

That's why Wies built the best way to send, spend, and receive money internationally.

2:14.8

Min fees, max ease, full speed.

...

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