Vladimir Putin has announced his intention to occupy the post of president for at least another term.

An elderly man who, throughout his 18 years of absolute power, has been able to bring to life each and every one of his desires, but in the end managed little more than enriching his faithful entourage beyond their wildest dreams.

The man, who over the course of 18 years has become steadily more dependent on that very same entourage, that criminal group that has had free reign in looting the country (possibly the very same group of bandits that were together back in the St. Petersburg years).

The news was long expected, but nevertheless, it has not become any less unappealing with time.  It means that the country is going to lose yet another 6 years.

Is 6 years a lot or a little? It seems to be not that much.  But that’s only at a first glance.  Time is all that one has.  6 years is one tenth of an adult life, if one is lucky enough to make it to the age of 80.  Each and every one of Russia’s 145 million people will lose 6 years of their life.  That’s 870 million years for all of us in total.

And these 6 lost years are not simply going to be spent stuck in the same place while the country falls further behind in the ratings, indexes and other important but abstract methods of measuring the quality of life in a country.  Literally each and every one of us is going to pay for 6 more years of Vladimir Putin.  Terminally ill cancer patients will continue to die in horrendous torment and humiliating attempts to do away with painkillers.  People will continue to be tortured in police stations while batches of drugs are planted on innocent people.  We will collect money from across the world in order to help cure sick children, and then, if we manage to cure them, we will pray that they are not sent off to fight in yet another secret war.  It is very unlikely that you, your family and your friends will not be personally affected by this.

What is this all really for? For what is the happiness, life, health and future of an entire country being offered up as a sacrifice?  The answer is simple: so that this criminal group can spend a fifth term (let’s be honest, it is a fifth term after all) in control of the state apparatus; so that it can utilise the power to continue looting the country while exempting itself from facing justice.  There are no other reasons for this sacrifice.

At the beginning of his first term, Vladimir Putin was busy with questions of taxes, the budget and administrative reforms; he was searching for support among various political forces while building a coalition, and he was concerned with questions of the country’s development.  Now he is going after foreign intelligence services who have, apparently, insidiously taken possession of Russian biological data.

Presidential power in today’s Russia serves as a shelter for the interests of the criminal group that has captured the Kremlin; the president’s former classmates, judo partners, bodyguards, secretaries and kitchen staff.  It is a shelter for the interests of people who will not feature on the ballot paper, but whose petty motives will determine the outcome of our lives for the next 6 years.  The only question that troubles Putin and his entourage now is how to hold on to power for an even longer period.

In March 2018 there will not be any elections.  You cannot call the official re-inauguration of Vladimir Putin an election.  Under the conditions of such a procedure no other person can possibly make it to the post of president, as this system of power monopoly will neither be altered nor dismantled.  For this reason I do not see the point in placing my hopes on the victory of someone else.  In pseudo-elections there are no winners.  On voting day I suggest people go to the polls and either vote for the candidate they consider most suitable (not Putin), if such a person will make it to the ballot paper, and in the case that the right name is not there, write it on yourself.

There will be no victory in March 2018, as what will take place will not be an election.  However, it is both possible and necessary to speak up for your political beliefs.  We have to remember that the biggest battles are yet to come, but we must prepare for them right now.  Six more years is too much time to lose.  Believe me, I know the value of lost years.