In 2024, President Vladimir Putin further cemented his grip on power and sought to counter Russia’s isolation from the West over the warfare in Ukraine. However he confronted persevering with challenges, with a lethal assault by gunmen in Moscow and an incursion by Kyiv’s troops on his territory.
As Russia’s nearly 3-year-old war in Ukraine enters a brand new, doubtlessly pivotal section amid a brand new U.S. administration and its unsure assist for Kyiv, here is a glance again at how the 12 months unfolded for Putin:
January: A presidential marketing campaign with no actual opponents
Putin ran for a fifth time period in workplace together with his high opponents both jailed or exiled overseas. However in a uncommon present of defiance, 1000’s of Russians queued within the January chilly to signal petitions for an unlikely challenger. Boris Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old legislator and warfare critic, received the 100,000 signatures wanted to place him on the poll, however election authorities finally barred him from operating. Nonetheless, the assist he obtained mirrored anti-war sentiment and public eager for political competitors in a humiliation for Putin.
February: Alexei Navalny dies in jail
On Feb. 16, Putin’s longtime foe Alexei Navalny died in an arctic jail colony whereas serving a 19-year sentence on prices broadly seen as politically motivated. The information of his demise at age 47 shocked the world and robbed the opposition of its most charismatic chief. No actual reason for demise was given, and his household and allies blamed the Kremlin, which denied involvement. Tens of 1000’s of mourners attended his Moscow funeral two weeks later in a present of defiance.
March: A live performance bloodbath darkens Putin’s election win
On March 17, Putin secured his anticipated election triumph, which can keep him in office till 2030, following the harshest crackdown on dissent since Soviet instances. 5 days later, gunmen stormed a concert hall on Moscow’s outskirts, killing over 140 folks and setting the venue ablaze. An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed duty, though the Kremlin, with out proof, tried guilty Ukraine for the deadliest assault on Russian soil in nearly 20 years. The assault stunned the capital and rekindled reminiscences of different assaults within the early years of Putin’s presidency.
June: Putin visits North Korea to forge stronger ties
Putin made a two-day go to to North Korea in June — his first in 24 years — because the nations deepened their ties within the face of intensifying confrontations with Washington. The pact signed by Putin and North Korean chief Kim Jong Un envisions mutual army help if both nation is attacked. The new agreement marked their strongest hyperlink for the reason that finish of the Chilly Conflict, including to considerations in Washington and Seoul.
July: Reporter Gershkovich convicted in a trial denounced as a sham
Wall Avenue Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March 2023 and accused of espionage, was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in jail in a swift trial. His employers and the U.S. authorities denounced the method as a sham and rejected the fees as fabricated. With out presenting proof, authorities claimed he was gathering secret info for the U.S. Gershkovich, the American-born son of Soviet immigrants, was the primary Western reporter arrested on espionage prices in post-Soviet Russia, in a chilling sign to worldwide journalists.
August: Mass prisoner swap and Ukraine’s push into Kursk
On Aug. 1, Washington and Moscow accomplished the most important East-West prisoner swap in post-Soviet historical past. These launched included Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, together with distinguished Russian dissidents like Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin. The multinational deal freed two dozen folks — together with Vadim Krasikov, serving a life sentence in Germany for killing a former Chechen militant in Berlin.
Additionally in August, Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk area within the largest cross-border raid by Kyiv’s forces. It uncovered Russia’s vulnerabilities and dealt an embarrassing blow to the Kremlin, with tens of 1000’s of civilians fleeing the area. With the majority of the Russian military engaged in japanese Ukraine, few troops had been left to guard the Kursk area. Russia forces have since regained management over a part of the territory however have up to now didn’t fully dislodge Kyiv’s troops.
September: Putin visits Mongolia with out concern of arrest
Putin traveled to regional ally Mongolia in September in a transfer broadly seen as an try to counter Western efforts to isolate him over the Ukraine warfare. Mongolia was among the many nations that ratified a treaty establishing the Worldwide Felony Courtroom, which in 2023 issued an arrest warrant for Putin for alleged warfare crimes in Ukraine. Mongolia ignored calls to arrest the Russian chief and gave him a red-carpet welcome, with each nations signing offers on power provides and energy plant upgrades.
October: US says North Korean troops are in Russia
In October, the Pentagon introduced North Korea despatched about 10,000 troops to Russia to affix the combating towards Ukraine — a transfer Western leaders mentioned will intensify the war and jolt relations in Asia. Moscow and Pyongyang have remained tight-lipped concerning the claims of deployment.
Putin also hosted a summit of the BRICS bloc of countries, attended by leaders or representatives of 36 nations, in what many noticed as an effort to spotlight the failure of U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia.
November: A T
rump victory and a brand new deadly Russian missile
Former President Donald Trump gained a brand new time period within the White Home in November, elevating considerations that his administration would cut military support for Ukraine and power it to barter with Moscow. Present President Joe Biden allowed Kyiv to use U.S.-supplied longer-range weapons for deeper strikes on Russian soil.
Russia responded by firing a brand new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile — known as the Oreshnik — at a metropolis in central Ukraine. Putin boasted the missile cannot be intercepted by air defenses. He warned that Moscow might use it for extra strikes on Ukraine and in addition doubtlessly to hit army amenities of NATO nations giving army assist to Ukraine.
December: An ally falls, a bomb rocks Moscow and a airplane crash attracts an apology
The federal government of Syrian chief Bashar Assad crumbled after a lightning offensive by rebels. Putin granted asylum to Moscow’s longtime ally Assad and his household, however the Kremlin’s failure to stop his downfall 9 years after it intervened militarily to prop up his rule exposed the limits of Russia’s power and dented its worldwide clout at a pivotal stage of its warfare in Ukraine.
Then, an embarrassing assault once more introduced the warfare to the streets of Moscow. Lt. Gen Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s Radiation, Organic and Chemical Safety Forces, was killed alongside an aide by a bomb planted outdoors his condominium constructing. Putin described Kirillov’s killing as a “main blunder” by safety companies.
On the ultimate weekend of the 12 months, Putin apologized for what he known as a “tragic incident” in Russian airspace involving the Dec. 25 crash of an Azerbaijani jetliner that killed 38 folks in neighboring Kazakhstan. His assertion got here amid mounting allegations the airplane was shot down by Russian air defenses making an attempt to cease a Ukrainian drone assault close to Grozny within the Russian republic of Chechnya. Whereas Russian officers acknowledged that air protection programs had been at work, Putin’s apology to Azerbaijan’s chief stopped wanting saying Moscow took duty.
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