In the past, leading opposition figures in Putin’s Russia who stood up to him and who questioned his authority have tended to be dealt with harshly. Life in Putin's Russia View All 14 ImagesThe liberal Boris Nemtsov was killed, for instance, in 2015 outside the Kremlin (supposedly by agents linked to Putin’s FSB). He needs the election to be seen as “clean” as a means of cementing his legacy as Russian state leader. As leader, Putin has regularly been recorded as enjoying popular support. While Putin does appear now to enjoy a high degree of popularity in Russia (albeit largely media-engineered), this may not last.

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Persons: Rod Thornton, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Tsar Peter the Great, Nikolai Kharitonov, Putin –, Yekaterina Duntsova, Boris Nemtsov, Alexei Navalny, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, –, Alexander Lukashenko Organizations: Communist, Kremlin, St, International Studies , Defense, Security, King's College Locations: Russia, Soviet, Ukraine, Putin’s Russia, Siberia, Navalny, London, Russian, Moscow, St Petersburg