We have been masking the fifth inauguration of Vladimir Putin as Russian president.
The ceremony befell in Moscow’s Grand Kremlin Palace, and our correspondent Ivor Bennett was there to expertise your complete occasion.
He additionally interviewed Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov concerning the state of democracy in Russia and the shortage of opposition in the course of the presidential election again in March.
Bennett requested Mr Peskov: “Western leaders and Western governments imagine that Vladimir Putin has turned Russia right into a dictatorship, why do you assume that’s not the case?”
Mr Peskov replied: “This isn’t the case.
“It is simply propaganda, it is tough propaganda, nothing else.”
He went on to say Russia was “purely democratic”, including: “We select our energy. We elect our energy. We elect our president. We vote for the president or don’t wish to vote for the president.
“And we insist that now we have the fitting to do it the best way we wish to do it.
“And we don’t desire a third nation to intrude in our selections, in our preferences.”
Pressed on whether or not the shortage of opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia was democratic, Mr Peskov mentioned: “However there’s opposition contained in the nation, after all the situations are a lot harder right here as a result of we’re in struggle situations.”
Mr Peskov used the phrase “struggle” twice within the interview – sometimes, the Kremlin refers to its invasion of Ukraine as a “particular navy operation” – a time period he additionally used as soon as.
Ivor Bennett then requested if it was much more vital for the general public to have the fitting to talk out in wartime.
“No, on the contrary. It wants harder measures to make sure the victory, to make sure that we attain our objectives,” Mr Peskov replied.
Requested whether or not this was democratic, Mr Peskov insisted: “It’s, it’s.”
He added that the Western media in Europe and the US exists within the “identical circumstances”.