As 2023 comes to a close, Putin wants the world to think he is winning

Russian President Vladimir Putin officially announced his candidacy for re-election in March 2024, as state media portrays him as the indispensable man. Despite being the inevitable winner, Putin wants to use the election as a public ritual to secure his power until the end of the decade. However, the war in Ukraine has presented unexpected challenges and setbacks for Putin’s reign. In June, a Russian mercenary leader launched an uprising, highlighted by images of the advance of Wagner’s forces towards Moscow. The rebellion was stopped short of the Russian capital and the leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a mysterious plane crash, causing a disruption to Putin’s leadership. Despite these challenges, Putin presented a confident narrative of the Russian economy at his annual press conference, boasting of GDP growth and low unemployment rates. The economy has been driven by defense spending and will continue to be as Putin has promised to spend whatever is necessary to continue the war against Ukraine. Moreover, Putin is projecting confidence in the war against Ukraine, with Ukraine’s counteroffensive failing to make progress and international support beginning to waver in the face of relentless attacks on Ukrainian civilians. The world waits to see how creative Ukraine’s allies can be in delivering on their promises of support for Ukraine in 2024.