Important Takeaways:

• The tally, virtually unimaginable in any democratic nation, suggests that the Kremlin is now less focused on manufacturing a veneer of electoral legitimacy and more on creating a cult of personality around Putin as Russia’s undisputed national patriarch and leader for life.
• We should see elections under Putin as not being about popular sovereignty, but about popular subordination
• It is about the masses voting to accept Putin as their czar
• It’s not just that the Kremlin is no longer embarrassed to rig the election. I think it’s almost, ‘So, what you can do about it?’
• Western leaders face a strident, emboldened adversary in command of a nuclear arsenal.
• Appearing supremely confident, Putin shrugged off the “unfortunate” death of his main rival, Alexei Navalny, in prison last month, which has left Putin with no conceivable challenger.
• Nobody from the very beginning considered these elections to be elections

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