Stability
Very little is left unknown as Putin announced his candidacy in the upcoming March 2018 presidential election while Alexei Navalny was denied registration. No other opposition leaders are putting up a fight because the very predictable outcome is not worth their investment. With no real opposition leaders participating, voter turnout may be the main question left to answer as a leader elected by a small number of voters will be less legitimate during his next six-year term.
A change of the Presidential Representative in the Northwest region to manage and potentially substitute the notorious St. Petersburg governor Georgy Poltavchenko caused a series of new appointments throughout the country. This means that the Kremlin wants to see a real change in St. Petersburg ahead of the coming election and the Soccer World Cup.
Former Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukaev was sentenced to eight years in prison on allegations of bribery and extortion based on the testimony of the head of the state-owned oil company Rosneft, Igor Sechin. Having an active government minister arrested, imprisoned and convicted without even coming to court is an obvious demonstration of the overwhelming power of Sechin and his allies in law enforcement.
A vast majority of Russians (almost 90%) are convinced that their job functions cannot be fully automated and thus they cannot be replaced by robots either now or in the foreseeable future. However, younger people are less confident about their job security in terms of being potentially replaced by robots.
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