On Russian TV ahead of the election, there’s only one program: Putin’s

Thousands of Russians braved the cold for hours earlier this month to honor the opposition politician Alexei Navalny after his funeral. It was one of the largest displays of defiance against President Vladimir Putin since he invaded Ukraine, and happened just weeks before an election he is all but assured to win. Since coming to power almost 25 years ago, Putin has eliminated nearly all independent media and opposition voices in Russia — a process he ramped up after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.