Thirty years after the failed putsch against Mikhail Gorbachev, and the victory of universal suffrage and people’s sovereignty, Vladimir Putin has launched a new SpetsOperatsia against parliamentarism and the right to free and fair vote. For Operation Elections on September 17-19, 2021, he has chosen to free himself from all legal appearances and institutional constraints. He is imposing his rules of the game, and attacking all political actors, notably by jailing or driving militants, journalists and opponents into exile.