Russia’s ruling elite have unanimously backed President Vladamir Putin’s bid for re-election in March’s presidential poll. He’s already been in power for 24 years, and the election is seen as a kind of fait accompli because most people who’ve opposed him are either in jail, dead or living overseas. But United Russia’s chairman Dmitry Medvedev doesn’t see it that way – he told fellow party members a fifth term for Putin “should be absolutely logical … and absolutely indisputable”. The only whiff of a challenge is coming in the form of a former journo who’s got the required 500 signatures to launch a bid. Yekaterina Duntsova’s candidacy was backed by supporters at a meeting in Moscow – and she’s already spoken about being afraid, given what’s happened to Putin’s opponents.