Before Russia voted, Western pundits called the election a key test. After predictions failed, they dismissed the result as illegitimate.<\/p>\n
The legislative elections in Russia have become a major topic in global media. The Times even published an editorial with the impressive headline \u2018Potemkin election\u2019.\u00a0
\nApparently, the author is unaware of the fact that his apparent witticism is out of place. He must also be ignorant of the origins of the term \u2018Potemkin village\u2019. Had he done some research, he would have known that Field Marshal Potemkin did not show Catherine the Great and many foreign \u2018observers\u2019 (as the people who accompanied her would be called today) fake villages. He showed them cities he had founded \u2013 Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk), Kherson, and Sevastopol \u2013 as well as the powerful Black Sea Fleet that had sprung up seemingly out of nowhere and astonished Austrian Emperor Joseph II, who was part of the Empress\u2019s entourage. If the authors of The Times believe these \u2018Potemkin villages\u2019 never existed, they should have a look at the modern map of Novorossiya and Crimea.
\nIn terms of significance, the current State Duma elections may be compared to Catherine the Great\u2019s journey to southern Russia. That trip demonstrated to the entire world that the map of Europe had fundamentally changed and that the once-wild steppes had become an integral part of the Russian Empire. It was precisely for this reason that back then, the purveyors of fake news rushed to concoct tales about \u2018Potemkin villages\u2019 \u2013 just as today, they try to slander the elections held in Russia\u2019s historic territories, in the very cities founded by Potemkin nearly 250 years ago.
\nI\u2019d like to note how dramatically the perception of the elections has shifted in Western media over a short period of time. Just a week and a half ago, The Sunday Times published an extensive \u2018analytical\u2019 piece on why the elections were important. The author expressed hope that they would reveal \u201cdiscontent\u201d with the government and suggested that the results would demonstrate that \u201cRussians\u2019 patience is wearing thin\u201d and that, in frontline regions, \u201cthe Kremlin will \u2026 begin to lose the provinces.\u201d\u00a0 There was no shortage of such articles leading up to the vote.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what Russia\u2019s election results really mean<\/p>\n
However, yesterday, in the wake of the elections, The Spectator published a frustrated piece arguing why the results of these \u201crigged\u201d elections should be ignored. The author is clearly disappointed with voter turnout and the results in those so-called \u201cPotemkin villages\u201d \u2013 specifically the regions of Crimea, Donbass, and Novorossiya, which have again become part of Russia. \u201cMost Russians want the war over, but they seem to be blaming the new inconveniences \u2013 from internet blockages to lines for gas \u2013 on Kiev, not the Kremlin,\u201d the article states.\u00a0
\nSome might say, \u2018So what if two different authors have two different opinions? That only demonstrates the pluralism of the free European press.\u2019 But here\u2019s the catch: both articles were written by the same person \u2013 Mark Galeotti, Britain\u2019s top \u2018expert on Russia.\u2019 This stark contrast in the evaluation of the same event stems from the genuine disappointment among Western elites who have again misjudged the outcome of Russia\u2019s elections.
\nThey failed to understand Russians 250 years ago and fail to understand them today. They genuinely believed that Zelensky\u2019s \u201cinfluence operations,\u201d\u00a0strikes on Russian energy infrastructure and warehouses, and the killing of civilians would sow unrest \u2013 if not across Russia as a whole, then at least in the territories most affected by Ukrainian air raids. They failed to grasp that this would actually cause the opposite reaction. The elections demonstrated that the residents of these territories do not see themselves as separate from the rest of the country.
\nThis is why European politicians are gritting their teeth; it\u2019s why Kaja Kallas issued a notice before the voting, declaring that elections in \u201coccupied\u201d territories would not be recognized; and it\u2019s also why they resurrected the tale of \u2018Potemkin villages\u2019, knowing as little about Russians today as they did hundreds of years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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