Scott Ritter: Election Results Show People Voted for Both Putin and ‘More Vibrant Russia’

Over the next six years, Russia will continue to “redefine itself” under Vladimir Putin’s leadership in the multipolar world, former US Marine Corps Intelligence Officer Scott Ritter told Sputnik.

Russia's three-day presidential elections concluded on Sunday, with an overwhelming majority of voters choosing to keep incumbent Vladimir Putin remaining in office for a new six-year term.

More than 74% of Russia’s 112.3 million voters cast their ballots between March 15 and March 17, the highest voter turnout in the country’s modern history.

🗳🇷🇺 Updated results of vote counting pic.twitter.com/mu96Id16Vj

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) March 18, 2024

Importantly, these figures mean that people were voting not just for Vladimir Putin, but for Russia as a whole, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter told Sputnik.

"They were voting for the sustainment of a system and the defense of the nation. It just happened that Vladimir Putin is the man who is going to personify the desires of the nation for the next six years," Ritter pointed out.

He recalled that in the run-up to the 2024 presidential elections in Russia, the government "was in the process of redefining" the country.

“We had a new foreign policy passed last summer that categorized Russia as a major civilization of significance. That Russia had a goal of being self-sufficient, that Russia would never again allow itself to be dragged down in the dark abyss that existed in the 1990s," the ex-US Marine Corps intelligence officer said.

Ritter suggested that under President Vladimir Putin’s new six-year term, one would see "a Russia in transition, a Russia that continues to redefine itself in terms of how it interfaces with the brand-new multipolar world."

According to Ritter, the next six years will witness "a vibrant Russian economy that's going to redefine and integrate with the global economy."

The former US Marine Corps Intelligence Officer concluded by stressing that during Putin’s new term, the Russian president will "oversee a more vibrant Russia, a Russia that introduces new blood into the political mix."