 What awaits Russia after Putin's victory? War is again in the foreground. Russia has concluded voting in the 7th presidential election of its modern history. First time presidential elections in Russia were held over three days for 12 hours daily between March 15th and 17th. According to the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, Putin gained 87.3%. This year's ballot also saw sporadic attempts to interfere with the working at polling stations. Almost 30 such cases in a total of 20 Russian regions saw perpetrators attacking ballot boxes according to Central Election Commission head Ella Pamfilova. Presidential elections in Russia have never been associated with a democratic procedure. At the same time, a victory in the first round will give Vladimir Putin a new stamp of legitimacy and will likely send a clear signal. The war with Ukraine has the full support of the Russians, writes CNN. It is noted that among those who follow Russia, attention is focused on several major issues. For starters, if the vote in this election is indeed a referendum on Russia's war against Ukraine, does this election give Putin free reign? Putin appears to have some room for maneuver on this issue. The Russian president is demonstrating confidence in developments on the battlefield. And in an environment where the West is dragging its feet on providing assistance to Ukraine, the election results give him more rhetorical arguments the publication says. At the same time, as CNN points out, Russia's gradual advance in Eastern Ukraine has led to horrific losses in the Russian army. It is expected that Putin and his generals will have to start a new round of mobilization to feed the troops in the meat grinder. Observers believe Putin will soon simply be forced to make a potentially unpopular move another big mobilization. The second issue on the agenda in Russia is the continuation of repression against the internal opposition, what is left of it. War is also unpredictable. And whatever Putin's efforts to turn the situation in his favor, Russia's long-term problems, demographic decline, the costs of war and sanctions, and the inherent fragility of unity of command are unlikely to disappear before Putin runs for a sixth term. States CNN. Scenario of coup in Kremlin announced Putin's days are numbered. Ukrainian doctor of political sciences, Maxim Razumnyi, believes that a scenario with a palace coup and appearance of a new political figure is possible in Russia. He said this to espresso media outlet. According to Maxim Razumnyi, Russia may fall into a certain time trap which in chess is called zugswang, a position in checkers and chess in which any move by a player leads to the deterioration of his situation. In principle, this could happen in six months. Some kind of palace coup. Putin being replaced by someone and so on. This gives an opportunity for some new political figure to appear who will start negotiating with the West and bargain good terms for himself. But if Putin even stays in power, these new conditions become worse and worse. That is, it may happen in two to three years, the expert said. In his opinion, the time when the active phase of hostilities will end is very important. We are not saying when the war will end, because now we do not see the possibility and necessity to end it with some kind of treaty or agreement with the dictator. We are talking about the end of the active phase of hostilities and the sooner this happens, the sooner Russians will start asking what was it and what was it for? Maxim Razumnyi explained. According to him, now during the period of aggravation, Russian citizens instinctively support their army and president. However, once this is over, there will be a lot of questions about the young men lost in the war. That is, it is such a lengthy process, but it can be accelerated by any circumstance. The expert believes earlier, a former CIA chief with three decades of experience in the intelligence field, Jack Devine, expressed his belief that Putin's days are numbered, stating, Putin could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn't be surprised if some element in the government had decided they were going to take executive action. Devine, who led thousands of spies on covert missions, points to Putin's increasingly unpredictable and dangerous behavior, particularly his invasion of Ukraine as the catalyst for his political demise. The war in Ukraine, marked by brutal assaults and severe casualties, has led to a decline in Putin's popularity. Devine, anticipated while also predicting a black swan event or a palace coup, especially if Russia's efforts result in a permanent stalemate in Ukraine.