With his army on the offensive in Ukraine and all forms of dissent inside Russia firmly suppressed, President Vladimir V. Putin is set to take center stage this week at two major events that will showcase his dominance over the country’s politics and his determination to win in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Mr. Putin, 71, will formally begin his fifth term as Russia’s president in a highly choreographed inauguration ceremony in the Kremlin. On Thursday, he is to preside over the Victory Day parade in Red Square, an annual demonstration of military might that in the last two years sought to symbolically link Russia’s war in Ukraine with the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
The Kremlin is also expected to nominate a prime minister and five key ministers, including foreign and defense, though the officials in those six posts may simply be renominated. The shape of the next Russian government will provide signals to the country’s course in the coming years.
Mr. Putin won his fifth term in March in a rubber-stamp election that Western nations dismissed as a sham. Regardless, the ceremony will be triumphal and filled with symbolism.
The country’s lawmakers, regional governors, religious leaders, high-ranking officials and other guests will wait for Mr. Putin to arrive at the Grand Kremlin Palace from the nearby Senate Palace, the site of the presidential office.
