In a dictatorship, why bother [with elections]? Academic studies concluded that ensuring a 99% vote share for the only candidate on the ballot was a useful tool for civic mobilisation, and a way of isolating and intimidating anyone who aspired to a real democratic choice.
Mr Putin originally envisaged his special military operation as a short and triumphant walkover. But the grinding attrition that has actually transpired, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of lives, has left him steeped in blood.
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