News - World: President Vladimir Putin has urged Russians to vote in the upcoming presidential election in the face of a difficult period for the country.

Putin made the call during an address to the nation on the eve of the vote, which will be held from Friday through Sunday, more than two years after Moscow launched a full-scale military operation in Ukraine.

    “I am convinced you realize what a difficult period our country is going through, what complex challenges we are facing in almost all areas,” the 71-year-old president said. “And in order to continue to respond to them with dignity and successfully overcome difficulties, we need to continue to be united and self-confident.”

Putin’s likely win in the race will allow him to remain in power at least until 2030, longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the eighteenth century.

“Let me be clear, participation in the elections today is a demonstration of patriotic sentiments," he added, stressing that the vote will also take place in four Ukrainian regions that Moscow added to the Russian Federation, as well as in the Crimean peninsula annexed in 2014.

    “Our fighters at the front will also vote. They, showing courage and heroism, defend the Fatherland and, participating in the elections, set an example for all of us,” Putin said in a video message, while flanked by flags of the Russian tricolor and the president’s state insignia.

“We have already shown that we can be together, defending the freedom, sovereignty and security of Russia. Today it is critically important not to stray from this path,” he said.

Russia began its “special military operation” in eastern Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In response, US-led Western countries supported the anti-Moscow Kiev regime with cash and heavy weaponry while imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russian officials and entities.

Russia has repeatedly warned the West that flooding Ukraine with weapons and munitions will only prolong the conflict, not stopping the Russian troops from reaching their military objective in the region.

In his state-of-the-nation address last month, Putin issued the latest cautionary statement, alerting the West that escalating its participation in the conflict in Ukraine could potentially lead to a nuclear war.

Earlier this week, Putin once again stressed that his country is “fully prepared” for a nuclear war.

The conflict has caused the deepest downfall in Russia’s relation with the West since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

Source: Press TV