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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaRosenberg: Putin’s fifth term likely to be more of the samePublished16 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsWar in UkraineThis video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Media caption, Watch: Supporters applaud Putin as he thanks Russians for putting their trust in himBy Steve RosenbergRussia EditorAs predictions go, a Putin landslide was the easy one.No crystal ball or tea leaves required there.After all, in Russia the Kremlin tightly controls the political system. Including elections.But what will Vladimir Putin do with his 87%? What will a fifth Putin term look like?Putin 5.0 may not be so different from Putin 4.0Don’t expect an “Abracadabra moment” where, with a wave of a magic wand, the hawk suddenly turns into a dove. Chances are that President Putin will continue along his current path of conflict abroad and crackdown at home. West condemns Russian ‘pseudo-election’ as Putin claims landslideLooking ahead, that probably means a continuation of the war in Ukraine – and confrontation with the West – plus an ideological campaign on the domestic front as Putin pushes on with his transformation of Russia into an increasingly militaristic society. As for Russian civil society, that’s already under intense pressure. That may well intensify. That 87% is an astronomical figure. True, it won’t convince Western leaders that it is a genuine reflection of Putin’s current level of popularity.”This is not what free and fair elections look like,” commented British Foreign Secretary David Cameron about Russia’s presidential vote.But domestically, it allows the Kremlin to argue that the whole nation has united around Vladimir Putin and that the Russian president has the full support of his people. Crucially, he can now claim to have a popular mandate for his war in Ukraine and for the direction in which he’s leading Russia. The 87% also sends a clear message to Russia’s political elite: “Take note, there’s still only one man in charge here, in control – and that’s not going to change any time soon.”And that’s important for Vladimir Putin, less than a year after the brief, but dramatic mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group. That uprising, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, had posed a direct challenge to Putin’s authority. Why Putin’s fifth term as Russian leader was never in doubtRosenberg: Russia’s stage-managed electionPutin: From Russia’s KGB to a presidency defined by warIn the end, it was the Kremlin leader who came out on top. Two months after the mutiny, Prigozhin was dead, killed in a plane crash. One more thing about 87% – it’s a great confidence booster. When you’re president, and you’re told you’ve won yet another landslide, it can make you feel even more powerful, invincible even. In Putin’s victory news confidence on Sunday night, that confidence shone through. It was the confidence of a leader who’s already been in power for a quarter of a century and is set become the longest-serving Russian leader since Catherine the Great. The confidence of a leader who has constructed a political system which delivered him 87% of the vote and a fifth presidential term.He spoke confidently about Russia’s progress in the war in Ukraine, where he claims the initiative is “fully” on the side of his country; he ripped into Western democracy; and he predicted that post-election Russia would grow stronger. Critics point out that political confidence in a leader – especially over-confidence – can be dangerous. Especially in the absence of checks and balances in a country’s political system. There are few of those in today’s Russia. Related TopicsWar in UkraineRussiaVladimir PutinMore on this storyPutin: From Russia’s KGB to a presidency defined by warPublished23 hours agoTop StoriesLive. West condemns Russian ‘pseudo-election’ as Putin claims landslide winLive. 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[ad_1] After Russia’s tightly controlled election, Putin will continue his path of conflict and crackdown.
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaUkraine war: Frontline medics count the cost of two years of warPublished30 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsWar in UkraineImage caption, Maj Oleh Kravchenko says nothing had prepared him for the brutality of the conflictBy Andrew HardingBBC News, Eastern UkraineMaj Oleh Kravchenko has the sort of chuckle that’s hard to resist – deep and treacly and mischievous. “I’m still alive,” he said, tilting his head to one side in his wheelchair, like a spectator marvelling at someone else’s magic trick.As Ukraine marks the second anniversary of the war, Kravchenko’s turbulent story captures something of the journey so many people here – soldiers and civilians alike – have been on, as they’ve come to understand the sort of sacrifices and patience this long conflict is demanding of them.Kravchenko is 50 years old now, and we’re meeting for the third time since Russia launched its latest invasion of Ukraine. His beard – brown and trim when I first encountered him in the besieged Donbas town of Lysychansk in 2022 – is now straggly and grey.We first met on a warm day in Lysychansk, in April 2022, having driven into the hilltop town on the last road still more or less under Ukrainian control. Kravchenko emerged from a doorway with a wry smile and offered to drive us around. We raced off towards the frontlines in his car at furious speed, an automatic rifle at his side, and the sound of incoming artillery fire booming through the open windows.”Look here. It’s a crater from a Russian bomb,” he said, playing the tour guide, as we skidded round another corner. Image caption, Maj Kravchenko uses a wheelchair after being injured in a Russian rocket attackKravchenko, in charge of the 57th Brigade’s medical teams, took us to an evacuation point in the bombed-out ruins of an old factory, and then helped us sneak, without permission, past far more cautious officials, and into the main military hospital, where dozens of shell-shocked Ukrainian soldiers lay silently in their beds.”A practical guy – unorthodox,” one of his colleagues remarked about Kravchenko’s style, with an indulgent smile.Kravchenko had already seen plenty of war before the Russian invasion. After leaving his job administering a hospital in central Ukraine, he’d worked as a doctor for the United Nations, spending several years in Afghanistan, and visiting Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan too.But nothing had prepared him for the opening months of this conflict.”Everywhere, blood, blood, blood,” he said, as we stood beside a stack of blood-stained stretchers. But in those early days he still seemed optimistic, convinced Ukraine could quickly win the war.”Ukrainian soldiers are strong because it’s our land. It’s my country. My daughter, my son, are here. My heart is here,” he said, his back straightening.”I hope one, maybe one and a half months and we will shoot every Russian. Our soldiers will hold their positions. We will give the enemy a good fight.”Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Maj Kravchenko and his men left Lysychansk only a few weeks before it was captured by Russian forcesWe said our goodbyes and drove out of Lysychansk later that afternoon. The town was captured by Russian forces a few weeks later and remains in the Kremlin’s control.It would be a whole year before we ran into Kravchenko again, this time on the outskirts of Bakhmut, another frontline town, 50km (31 miles) to the southwest.”Still alive,” he said, by way of a greeting. It was something I’d begun hearing other soldiers say. But his grin seemed forced. And the dark smudges of exhaustion below Kravchenko’s eyes made him look like he was wearing stage paint.”It’s been difficult. I didn’t sleep at all last night,” he said, showing me around the small warehouse which his team had turned into a makeshift field hospital.’I don’t know about my fate’ It was the day before Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner group, launched his short-lived mutiny against President Vladimir Putin in July 2023.Bakhmut itself had already fallen to the Russians weeks earlier, but Ukraine’s much-heralded counter-offensive was in its early stage and there were strong hopes for its success. Even so, the signs around Bakhmut were already looking ominous, with casualties from shrapnel and landmines being brought in with alarming regularity from the nearby trenches.”So much heavy artillery,” Kravchenko remarked.As we sat outside, hiding beneath some trees to avoid Russian drones circling overhead, two incoming shells sent us diving for cover. The second failed to explode and Kravchenko dismissed it, with a short laugh, as a mere “fart.”But there was no disguising his unease.”People are very tired. It’s been a very heavy year,” he said. Then, unprompted, Kravchenko started to talk about his own future, a subject that must gnaw at so many minds after months spent in constant danger.Is Russia turning the tide in Ukraine?”I think about God and about fate. My fate is… hmm… I don’t know,” he said, explaining that he sometimes pictured himself after the war was over. “[Until then] I’m just living and doing my job. I want to do it perfectly. I don’t know about my fate.” Kravchenko was proud of how much experience his unit in the 57th Brigade had gained in combat medicine and talked about sharing that knowledge with other armies. His phone was full of videos showing recent operations he’d performed on soldiers with flesh torn apart by a range of missiles.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Ukrainian soldiers are exhausted after two years of fightingBut then everything changed.Late one evening, in October 2023, Kravchenko was working at the building he and his medical team had moved to, further west, near Izyum. They’d just been operating on a seriously wounded soldier and had put him in a vehicle ready for transport to a larger hospital. Kravchenko and three others went back inside to collect some equipment. At 23:40, a Russian rocket hit the building.”Svitlana had five children, and Yuliia had three. Vladyslav was never married. He didn’t have children yet. He was 32,” said Kravchenko, when we met this week for a third time.A stern, haunted expression spread across his face as I asked him about the incident itself, and the death of his three close colleagues.”It’s too heavy. It’s difficult for me,” he said in a deep, gruff voice. The same rocket that killed the others had brought a heavy pipe down on his own leg, smashing his left knee. Kravchenko had been taken to a hospital in Dnipro, then to Kyiv. Now he was back in his hometown of Kremenchuk, on the Dnipro River. “President Zelensky gave me this one,” he said, showing some of his medals and a pistol he’d also been given. Kravchenko is more or less confined to a wheelchair for the moment but can use crutches to get up one or two steps and is getting regular physiotherapy. Since his injury, he has retired from the military, but remains in contact with his successor, a former dentist who also volunteered and joined the 57th Brigade.”Leonidovych is a good man. Good company,” said Ihor Babarykin, using Kravchenko’s middle name as a mark of respect. ‘The fear never goes’ The team has recently moved to a new base close to the town of Kupyansk, now being targeted heavily by Russian forces. Last summer’s counter-offensive had achieved little and Ukrainian forces have recently been driven out of Avdiivka. US arms supplies are running out and President Zelensky has warned that without more western help Russia will win.”There are drones everywhere. And glide bombs. It has become so dangerous, but we’re holding the line. We’ve grown accustomed to this work now. The fear never goes, but somehow you get used to it,” said Babarykin. Three new casualties, all suffering from shellshock, lay quietly on beds nearby.At his home near the Dnipro river, Kravchenko is wrestling with his new life out of the army.”I would like to go back to my job on the frontline. But I cannot. I did my job well. After being wounded I want to start a new project for my country. A military hospital of my dreams. I know how to do it,” he said, fidgeting, in apparent frustration, with the handles of his wheelchair.Like so many Ukrainians right now, Kravchenko worries that the West may be losing interest in supporting the fight against Russia. “It will be a long war. Ukraine is the frontline of Europe. If we lose, after that it will be Poland and Germany and other countries,” he said sombrely.Kravchenko’s military call-sign is “Afghan”, in reference to his work abroad. But he’s hoping that will change soon, if and when his knee heals.”In one month, I will run like the wind. After that you will call me ‘Wind’,” he said, with something close to a chuckle. 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![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaIgor Girkin shot down a passenger jet, then insulted Putin. Which one put him in jail?Published1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsWar in UkraineImage source, MAXIM SHIPENKOV/EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockImage caption, Igor Girkin has escaped justice for downing flight MH17 but is going to jail after criticising Vladimir PutinBy Steve RosenbergRussia Editor, MoscowThe last time I saw Igor Girkin was five years ago in the stairwell of a Moscow news agency.”Would you consider giving me an interview?” I asked. “No,” he replied sharply and scurried away.I saw him again today. No stairwell. This time, Girkin was in a caged dock surrounded by police in the Moscow City Court. Along with other media we were allowed in to film him for just one minute before the end of his trial. A police dog kept barking. Girkin found that amusing. The verdict less so. Minutes later he was found guilty on extremism charges and sentenced to four years in a penal colony. This wasn’t his first conviction. In The Hague in 2022, in absentia, Girkin was found guilty of the murder of 298 people: the passengers and crew of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. The Boeing jet had been shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014 by Russian-controlled forces in the early stages of Russia’s war there. Girkin was one of three men sentenced to life imprisonment. A judgement he ignored.A year after we’d met in the stairwell, I managed to get through to Girkin on the phone and ask him about the Hague. “I do not recognise the authority of the Dutch court on this matter,” he told me. “I am a military man and I am not going to accept that a civilian court in a foreign country has the authority to convict a person who took part in someone else’s civil war, only because their civilians were killed.”Do you know who shot down [the plane]?””The rebels didn’t shoot down the Boeing. I have nothing more to say.”This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Media caption, Russian rebel commander Igor Girkin told the BBC in 2020 he did not recognise the court’s authority”If it wasn’t the rebels, then was it Russian soldiers?” I asked.”That’s it. Goodbye.” He hung up. Now he is going to prison. But not for mass murder. And not for life. So, who exactly is Girkin – also known under his pseudonym as Igor Strelkov – and why has a Moscow court sent him to jail?He is a former FSB officer in Russia’s domestic security service. In 2014 he played a key role in the fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region: a conflict engineered and orchestrated by Moscow.He organised and commanded pro-Russia militias in eastern Ukraine. The Dutch court would later rule that Russia had been in control of the separatist forces fighting in eastern Ukraine and that Girkin had helped to bring the Buk missile system into Ukraine that was used to shoot down flight MH17. Three guilty of downing airliner over UkrainePutin critic Girkin wants Russia presidential runFollowing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, ultranationalist Girkin became a prominent pro-war blogger. He became increasingly critical of the way the Russian authorities were waging the war: not hard enough, in his view. He founded a hard line nationalist movement called The Club of Angry Patriots. His problems began when he started to take that anger out on President Vladimir Putin. Public criticisms of the Russian president turned to insults. In a post last year, Girkin described Putin as “a non-entity” and “a cowardly waste of space”. A few days later he was arrested. Now he’s been tried and convicted. Of course, a four-year prison sentence is mild in comparison to other recent punishments delivered by Russian courts. Last year pro-democracy activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to a quarter of a century behind bars after being convicted of treason, a case he and his supporters insist was politically motivated.Putin critic jailed for 25 years in Russia’Send back our husbands’ – Russian women in rare protestHow would the “Angry Patriots” react to Girkin’s prison term? Would they pour on to the streets in protest? Image source, MAXIM SHIPENKOV/EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockImage caption, Some of Girkin supporters were detained outside the court in MoscowNot exactly. A few dozen supporters gathered outside the Moscow City Court to chant “Freedom to Strelkov!” but there was little hint of optimism in their voices. “They’ve put a Russian national patriot on trial,” Denis tells me. “I hope our people wake up and fight. Unfortunately, we don’t see much pushback. Everyone seems to be hiding away.”Also in the crowd was retired colonel and outspoken ultranationalist Vladimir Kvachkov.Having informed me that “Russia will always be the enemy of the Anglo-Saxon West” and assured me that the break-up of the United Kingdom was inevitable, Mr Kvachkov claimed that Girkin was being punished for “fighting against the system.”In recent years the “system” concentrated on clearing the Russian political landscape of pro-democracy, pro-Western critics and challengers. A prison sentence for Girkin suggests the Russian authorities have now decided to crackdown on critics from the opposite end of spectrum: the so-called ultra-patriots. Last year’s mutiny by Wagner mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin may be the reason. The Putin system survived the challenge. But that drama will have alerted the Kremlin to the potential dangers from highly motivated nationalistic and patriotic elements in Russian society.Related TopicsWar in UkraineRussiaVladimir PutinMore on this storyPutin critic Girkin wants Russia presidential runPublished19 November 2023Pro-war Putin critic Strelkov detained in MoscowPublished21 July 2023Wanted Russian rebel scorns MH17 trial. Video, 00:01:25Wanted Russian rebel scorns MH17 trialPublished9 March 20201:25Top StoriesFamilies’ anger as triple killer gets hospital orderPublished24 minutes agoWatch: Killer’s rampage and arrest caught on camera. 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