Once again, Vladimir Putin has engineered his election victory

This month, the Russian people will again go through the motions of a presidential election. In fact, it is a mere formality in President Vladimir Putin’s all but guaranteed victory.

Putin is universally expected to win his fourth six-year term in office on March 18, largely because the Russian autocrat has ensured no other outcome is possible. He has been relentless and purposeful in tightening his grip on Russian civil liberties and the political process.

{mosads}Putin’s most outspoken critic, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was barred in December from entering the race because of a conviction that was widely seen as politically motivated. The candidates that are permitted to run against Putin are a “comically weak field,” of also-rans with no chance of winning.

Russia’s main independent pollster Levada was recently forced to cease publication, fearing legal trouble with authorities after predicting a record low election day turnout of 58 percent. That’s less than the recent low of 65 percent in 2012 and a far cry from the 70 percent needed by the Kremlin for the election to appear respectable.

Voter apathy and discontent is increasingly manifest in absenteeism. Last month, rallies were held in dozens of cities protesting corruption under Putin’s rule and supporting Navalny’s call for an election boycott. More than 300 people, including Navalny, were arrested and detained across the country.

Such restlessness may be alarming to the Kremlin, which relies upon elections to at minimum give the illusion of freedom of choice. But while these protests are courageous and commendable, they do not represent any threat to an inevitable Putin victory in two weeks.

As I’ve described at length in “Putin’s Master Plan: To Destroy Europe, Divide NATO, and Restore Russian Power and Global Influence” and “Putin on the March: The Russian President’s Unchecked Global Advance,” Putin is a dangerous leader who consolidates power at every opportunity.

The Kremlin’s historically tight grip on Russia’s political sphere, electorate and media has only increased in recent years to counter political dissent. After 100,000 demonstrated against corruption ahead of the 2012 elections, Putin criminalized public assembly without a permit. He also toughened restrictions on Internet speech, which created a federal blacklist of “extreme” websites and allowed the government to block public access to any site.

The independent Russian media is similarly shackled by the Kremlin’s ability to block the publication of any story deemed damaging. NGOs, many of which receive funding from outside Russia, live in fear of being labeled a “foreign agent” subjected to audits and heavy fines.

Unsurprisingly, Putin won the 2012 election, just as he will win reelection this year. The electorate remains loyal to the Russian dictator. As of December 2017, Putin has maintained a massive approval rating of 81 percent, according to Levada.

Putin’s command of the Russian people remains strong so long as he is able to manipulate the narrative. By selecting March 18 — the fourth anniversary of Russia’s forcible annexation of Crimea — as the date of the election, Putin is invoking the dream of a restored Russian empire.

This vision is only enhanced by Putin’s recent projection of military might and antagonism towards the United States. For example, Putin recently unveiled nuclear weapons that supposedly cannot be stopped by U.S. defense systems. Putin stated that, “Russia still has the greatest nuclear potential in the world, but nobody listened to us… Listen now.”

These displays are clearly meant to inspire a sense of fear across Europe and in the United States, as well as to establish Putin as the leader who will make Russia a superpower once again.

Putin’s secure command over the 2018 election and his increasingly aggressive attitude should be worrying for the United States. Under Putin’s control, Russia apparently meddled in 2016’s presidential election and shows no sign of stopping this behavior, as U.S. intelligence officers have warned that Russia is likely to engage in the same tactics in 2018.

Furthermore, Putin has aided North Korea — one of America’s chief enemies — by writing off massive amounts of debt owed by Kim Jong Un’s regime. Even more alarmingly, there is evidence that scientists from the former Soviet Union have helped the North Koreans design and build missiles over the past three decades.

For these reasons, a victory for Putin is a loss for the United States. But, as is the case with most authoritarian leaders, Putin’s command over the electorate likely has a finite shelf life. For Putin, 2018 may already be in the bag, but 2024 and Russia’s rocky future still looms on the horizon.

Douglas E. Schoen (@DouglasESchoen) served as a pollster for President Clinton. A longtime political consultant, he is also a Fox News contributor and the author of 11 books, including “Putin’s Master Plan: To Destroy Europe, Divide NATO, and Restore Russian Power and Global Influence.”