The recent presidential election in Russia was a kind of referendum on the idea of Russian statehood sacredness, director of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul” Igor Munteanu stated in the talk show “Emphasis on today” on TVR Moldova channel. According to him, not only the statistical result of this election matters, but also what state Vladimir Putin intends to build further, IPN reports.

“A state that should maintain the so-called internal stability of which the Russian citizens are very aware and acclaim it - a kind of status quo of the games of the power that occur around the Kremlin and that will not include important references to internal reforms aimed at liberalizing and modernizing the state, which I think President Putin considers of secondary importance,” stated Igor Munteanu.

Iulian Groza, executive director of the Institute for European Politics and Reforms, said Vladimir Putin in the current election campaign managed to shift emphases from the internal problems, such as corruption and the economic situation, to the existence of a foreign enemy, which is the West. The opposition leader Alexei Navalnyi and the protests that this could generate given the poor economic situation in Russia were the major problems for Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin was reelected President of Russia by over 76% of the vote on March 18.