With Presidential Elections Only Eight Months Away, Russian Voters Are Facing No Good Alternatives To Putin

Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny (left) and Igor Strelkov (right), a former pro-Russia separatist commander who took part in the military conflict in eastern Ukraine, attend a broadcasting debate in Moscow moderated by journalist Mikhail Zygar (center).

Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg: Putin's No Good, But Where's the Alternative?

No opposition leader can muster a vision inspiring enough to compete.

No wonder it's so difficult to imagine Russia without President Vladimir Putin: Even his most vehement opponents can't seem to offer an alternative vision for the country.

This week, two prominent opposition figures engaged in a debate. On the liberal side was Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption crusader who has announced his candidacy in the 2018 presidential election even though he has little chance of actually being allowed to run against Putin. Against all odds, Navalny is trying to act as if Russia were a normal democracy: He has opened local campaign offices (where activists are regularly harassed and detained) and broadcasts commentary on current events from his own TV studio (where the debate took place).

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WNU Editor: In this election cycle .... there are no real opponents to Russian President Putin .... which is a big disappointment to me. No one has a broad vision on where Russia should be .... and those who do cannot articulate it well. The number one issue for most (if not all) Russians is the economy, and on this issue Putin is incredibly weak. What has saved him is that economic reforms instituted after sanctions were imposed on Russia has revitalised the entrepreneur and small business class in Russia .... and it is this sector that is now driving the growth of the economy. If this sector was not booming .... this summer will be remembered as a summer of discontent and mass protests. My prediction .... lacking any real opposition Putin will be re-elected, but he will not run again, and it will be the next Presidential election cycle that things will get interesting

Update: What scares the Kremlin is the internet and social media .... that is an element that they cannot control. And even though next year's Presidential election should be a shoo-in for Putin, the Kremlin is not taking any chances .... Russian MPs vote to ban tools that help users stay incognito online (DW).