Colonel Artyom Zhoga, commander of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic’s Sparta battalion, had just delivered a spirited speech in which he asked Putin to run again in the upcoming presidential elections. No one doubted that Putin would run in the elections in less than three weeks and win them overwhelmingly. The Kremlin least of all, because they have done everything in their power to ensure that the March 17 elections will end with Putin’s triumph.