Been to Russia and live on the border of it. Basically if you have a chance of beating Putin you aren’t going to be an option to vote for. The part of the government who decides who will be the options is controlled by Putin. The approval is pretty much bullshit, I haven’t asked everyone in Russia but I have yet to meet someone who supports Putin, especially after he invaded Ukraine.
Stop subsidising air travel and people are gonna prefer trains and boats real fast.