Vladimir Putin is set to secure another six-year term as Russian leader this weekend in a vote the Kremlin says will show society is fully behind his assault on Ukraine.
In power as president or prime minister since the final day of 1999, Putin has quashed all forms of opposition and dissent, exerting a level of domestic control that ensures the result is in no doubt.
Victory in the March 15-17 contest will allow him to stay in the Kremlin until at least 2030, longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the eighteenth century.
The poll comes at a time of high confidence for the former KGB agent.
Russia’s troops in Ukraine have chalked up their first battlefield gains in months.
And Putin’s most strident critic, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison colony last month.
Though Putin is blasted as a pariah in the West, the Kremlin says the vote will show that Russians at home are unified behind him and his offensive.
“He has no rivals at the moment and cannot have any,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last year.
“Nobody can realistically compete with him,” he said.
‘Important elections’
Despite the ceremonial undertones, the Kremlin takes the electoral process seriously.
Moscow has poured resources into a campaign designed to whip up enthusiasm for Putin.
The president has toured the country and was filmed flying in the cockpit of a supersonic nuclear bomber, burnishing his tough-guy credentials.
“These elections are very important for the Kremlin,” Chatham House fellow Nikolai Petrov told AFP.
“It is needed to demonstrate that Russians overwhelmingly support Putin” during the military offensive, he said.
The Kremlin is aiming to secure a higher level of support for Putin than in his previous four election wins.
In 2018, official results showed he got 77.5 percent of the vote.
Even with no real competition, that contest was marred by widespread accusations of ballot-stuffing, fraud and forced voting.
This year Putin will officially face three other contenders — Kremlin-approved candidates designed to give a facade of competition.
Anti-Putin politician Boris Nadezhdin was blocked from standing after tens of thousands of Russians backed his surprise bid to run on a pro-peace message.
‘No doubt’
The Kremlin had previously allowed a liberal candidate to run in what analysts once called Russia’s “managed democracy”.
Now the term they use is “autocracy” — or “totalitarian”.
Ballots will also be cast in the four Ukrainian regions Moscow claimed to have annexed in 2022, as well as the Crimean peninsula, seized in 2014.
Moscow is no longer worried about trying to present the vote as a legitimate democratic exercise to the West, or even Russian society, Petrov said.
“The most important thing… is that political elites should not have any doubts that Putin is really supported by the vast majority of Russians,” he said.
Less than a year after an aborted mutiny by mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin will want to show possible rivals and successors that Putin is secure on his throne.
From exile and behind bars, Russia’s remaining opposition figures still hope they can spoil the procession.
They want anti-Putin Russians to form huge queues outside polling stations on the final day of voting.
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, says the show of dissent could spook Putin.
The Kremlin appears unfazed.
“We will hold the kind of elections that our people need,” Peskov said earlier this month, dismissing those who describe the vote as neither free nor fair.
“We won’t tolerate any criticism of our democracy. Our democracy is the best.”
AFP
A Finnish appeal court has reduced the prison sentence of Biafran separatist leader, Simon Ekpa, from six to four years.
Finnish newspaper Yle disclosed this in a report on Thursday.
However, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Päijät-Häme District Court, which found Ekpa guilty of terrorism-related charges last year.
The charges were related to Ekpa’s alleged activities aimed at re-establishing an independent state of Biafra in southeastern Nigeria.
Ekpa subsequently appealed the ruling, seeking to have his conviction and sentence overturned.
In a ruling that offered some relief to Ekpa, the Court of Appeal found him guilty of the same offences but reduced his prison term after considering the circumstances surrounding his actions. The court noted that the situation in the Biafran region closely resembled, but did not meet the definition of, a civil war.
Ekpa had told the court that his involvement was not motivated by terrorist intent, citing the political turmoil in the Biafran region.
The prosecutor in the case had also appealed the district court’s decision, arguing that the prison sentence did not reflect the seriousness of Ekpa’s offences.
The Federal Government has called for stronger international responsibility sharing and innovative arrangement to address the growing humanitarian needs of over 142,000 refugees and asylum seekers from 42 countries.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Bernard Doro, made the call while delivering Nigeria’s national statement at the 77th Session of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), currently holding at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
In a statement by his Senior Technical Adviser on Information Systems and Data Analysis, Dr. Abimbola Fasanu, the Minister disclosed that as of September 2026, Nigeria had received over 24,000 returnees and was managing a population of more than 6.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Doro reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to international refugee protection obligations, noting that the country continues to maintain an asylum system under the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) Act of 2022.
He stated that no case of refoulement had been recorded in Nigeria in 2026, reaffirming the country’s commitment to protecting people fleeing persecution from being returned to situations where their lives or freedom could be threatened.
Highlighting progress on durable solutions, the Minister disclosed that over 7,000 Nigerian refugees had voluntarily returned from neighbouring countries this year under Tripartite Agreements, while another 14,000 in Cameroon had registered their intention to return. An agreement covering the return of 2,000 Nigerians from Niger is also being finalised.
He acknowledged the continued hospitality of Cameroon, Chad and Niger in providing refuge to displaced Nigerians.
According to the Minister, improved security conditions in parts of the country are creating opportunities for voluntary return, while Resettlement Cities established in seven locations are supporting the phased closure of displacement camps in conditions of safety and dignity.
Beyond return and resettlement, Dr. Doro outlined measures aimed at promoting self-reliance and reducing prolonged dependence on humanitarian assistance.
He explained that refugees in five states are benefiting from access to land, agricultural inputs and skills training, while the newly established Public-Private Partnership Department of the NCFRMI is supporting efforts to expand livelihood opportunities.
The Minister also cited the successful local integration of former Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees, some of whom have established businesses and become economically active members of their host communities.
On access to essential services, he disclosed that displaced persons and host communities are being enrolled in Nigeria’s national identity system to facilitate access to banking, education and social services.
He added that refugees are being incorporated into state action plans and social registers, while ten mobile documentation buses are expected to extend identity services to underserved and remote communities.
Doro further highlighted the development of a Digital Gateway in collaboration with UNHCR to provide refugees with secure online access to information.
Addressing the growing pressure on humanitarian financing, the Minister urged the international community to strengthen support for refugee-hosting countries through expanded resettlement opportunities, complementary pathways and greater responsibility-sharing.
He specifically called on UNHCR to explore partnerships with regional and subregional financial institutions, including the African Development Bank and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, as a means of mobilising additional resources for refugee protection and durable solutions.
The Minister emphasised that the responsibility for addressing displacement could not rest on host countries alone, particularly at a time of increasing humanitarian needs and declining international resources.
The United States has listed Nigeria among 14 countries identified for recruiting or using child soldiers, warning that the designation could trigger restrictions on certain forms of military assistance.
The listing is contained in the 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which covers the period from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.
According to the report, restrictions under the Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) could affect international military education and training, foreign military financing, excess defence articles, peacekeeping operations and licences for direct commercial sales of military equipment, unless a presidential waiver is granted.
Nigeria was listed alongside Afghanistan, Burma, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Iran, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Venezuela and Yemen.
The report also retained Nigeria on Tier 2 for human trafficking, a category for countries whose governments do not fully meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking but are making significant efforts to comply.
However, the US raised concerns about corruption and alleged official complicity in human trafficking crimes.
“The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees allegedly complicit in trafficking crimes or provide details or other actions taken against complicit officials from previous years,” the report stated.
The report also faulted Nigeria’s efforts to protect trafficking victims, stating that 675 victims received assistance in 2025, compared with 2,058 in the previous year.
It said support services, particularly for male victims, remained limited, with only one dedicated non-governmental organisation shelter for adult male victims operating during the reporting period.
The report further stated that shelters operated by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) restricted residents’ freedom of movement, while access to certain protection services depended on victims cooperating with law enforcement proceedings.
Despite these concerns, the report acknowledged increased government efforts in investigating, prosecuting and securing convictions in human trafficking cases compared with the previous reporting period.
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