There are several reasons why the event on March 18 which will give Vladimir Putin his fourth official term as Russian President can only loosely be termed an ‘election’. There is one reason, however, that surely invalidates any outcome since Russia is insisting on holding the elections in illegally occupied Ukrainian Crimea. Even if the OSCE’s acceptance of Russia’s invitation to observe the presidential elections was made with the proviso that it would only be deployed in Russia, the OSCE’s very presence is effectively recognizing that the elections are at least legal.
The event has been scheduled for 18 March, with this timing no accident. The date marks four years since Russia tried to formalize its illegal annexation of Crimea, and Putin is presumably hoping to win ‘votes’ by hearkening to this illegal land-grab. It is likely that most Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainians in occupied Crimea will boycott these ‘elections’, and so should the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
