JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine Braced for Russian Disinformation Attacks on Zelenskiy” – Bloomberg
- “Kremlin campaign to focus on legitimacy as vote scrapped
- Ukrainian leader sensitive over issue as war footing shifts”
“… With … Ukrainian territory under Russian occupation, millions … having fled … and [Ukraine’s] infrastructure battered … martial law has imposed restrictions on elections. Zelenskiy … would otherwise be campaigning for a vote held at the end of March if he were to seek a second term. … [The Kremlin] [p]icking away at a democratic deficit in Ukraine would seem to be a hard sell ….
Putin repeatedly insisted that he wouldn’t amend the constitution to extend his tenure, only to pull an about-face in 2020 … opening a path to stay … until 2036. The [OSCE] has criticized … Russian elections, and wasn’t invited to observe [2024’s Russian] vote. Protests and dissent are heavily restricted [in Russia]. The burial … of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died in prison … was accompanied by a heavy police presence [to] … deter[] protests …. Nevertheless, Ukrainian counterintelligence has described a Russian plan to unleash a campaign to undermine public trust in [Ukrainian] democratic institutions ….”