Ivanov was charged with reporting on the Bucha massacre and other alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
But just last summer, Mr. Peskov was more equivocal about the state of democracy in Russia.
“Our presidential election is not really a democracy, it’s an expensive bureaucracy,” he said in an interview. He also predicted that President Putin would receive 90% support in the election. He later claimed that his own words had been misunderstood.
But Peskov’s frank predictions now seem far-sighted, especially after the disqualification of two key anti-war opposition candidates, Ekaterina Duntsova and Boris Nadezhdin, from the race. It looks like there is.
President Putin is expected to face off against three candidates who voluntarily abstained from criticizing him.