Important Takeaways:

• Following an expected victory in the Russian elections, President Vladimir Putin has warned a “full-scale” world war may be on the horizon, blaming Western governments who “want to intimidate us.”
• “I think that everything is possible in the modern world,” he said when quizzed on the possibility of open conflict between the Russian Federation and the West following an election contest in which he won over 87 percent of the vote.
• “But I have already said, and it is clear to everyone, that it will be one step away from a full-scale Third World War,” he added, lamenting that, in his view, “hardly anyone is interested in this.”
• Western governments have argued the Russian elections were a sham, with opposition figures like the now-deceased Alexei Navalny unable to participate. Western news outlets who typically report negatively on Russia, such as The New York Times, have acknowledged Putin’s support does appear to be “real,” however, citing independent Levada Center polling putting his approval rating at 86 percent.
• President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has suspended elections altogether and banned the country’s second-largest party for alleged Russian sympathies.
• In February, Putin also warned that Western interference in Ukraine could spark a nuclear war.

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