Atlantic Council’s Ross Wilson for New Eastern Europe: Washington will have little choice but to try to continue the reset.

In a commentary for New Eastern Europe, Ross Wilson, Director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council and former United States ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan, discusses Putin’s return and how the West, especially the US, should engage Putin after the elections.

Living with Putin Redux:

Few people think that the upcoming Russian presidential election will result in anything other than Vladimir Putin’s restoration to the Kremlin.  No credible opposition figure exists – or can be allowed to exist given the logic of the Russian system.  Putin may not get the 51per cent required for a first round win, but victory in the second seems assured, even if it requires the rule fudging that will happen anyway.

Kvetching, complaining, and protesting about the electoral result and how it happened will follow from Westerners and voters alike.  What outsiders say will resonate in the West, but not so much in Russia.  Sustained public objections at home, however, will likely weaken Putin Redux, but also catalyse domestic policy changes. 

To read the full article click here: https://www.neweasterneurope.eu/node/215

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