For Putin, winning reelection could be easier than resolving the many challenges facing Russia

By The Associated Press

President Vladimir Putin is likely to win another six-year term easily in an election expected in March, using his sweeping grip on Russia’s political scene to extend his tenure of over two decades in power. But he faces daunting challenges. Looming over his presidency is the stalemated war in Ukraine and unyielding Western pressure that compounds Russia’s economic woes. All that is eroding the country’s cherished stability. Putin expects that attritional warfare will gradually exhaust Ukrainian resources and undermine Western support for Kyiv, but a protracted conflict also exacerbates Russia’s economic woes, deepens social problems and fuels divisions within the ruling elite.