Moscow:
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the “return” of annexed Ukrainian territories to Russia at a concert in Red Square on Monday after winning an election slammed by Western powers as illegitimate.
The former spy won more than 87% of the vote in the three-day vote, which included voting in parts of Ukraine controlled by Russian forces.
Moscow pointed to the weekend’s presidential election as evidence that Russians have rallied around Putin more than two years into their offensive in Ukraine.
Putin’s victory is widely expected to further tighten his grip on Russia, which is no longer tolerant of dissent amid a rapidly accelerating crackdown.
He has been in power since his last day in 1999 and is now on track to become Russia’s longest-serving leader in more than two centuries.
“We will move forward together and this will make us stronger…Long live Russia!” Putin told a crowd attending a pop concert to mark the tenth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine.
Putin boasted about the construction of new railway lines in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian troops and said the areas had “declared a desire to return home.”
He appeared at the concert with three of the candidates running against him, who hosted them at a meeting in the Kremlin, and they all congratulated him.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s victory showed Russians were consolidating “around his path,” calling it an “exceptionally perfect result.”
All of the 71-year-old president’s main opponents have died, either in prison or in exile, and the vote comes a month after Putin’s main challenger Alexei Navalny died in prison.
Authorities called on Russians to vote out of patriotic duty.
“Vladimir Vladimirovich is the foundation of our country,” said Viktoria, 23, an IT employee at a state-owned company, as she headed to the Red Square concert.
Elena, a 64-year-old economist, said she was not surprised by the result “because I think any citizen who respects our country would vote for Putin.”
Ballot saboteurs will be ‘dealt with’
Three-day voting was also held in occupied Ukraine but was marred by damaged ballots and Ukrainian bombing.
Thousands of people lined up at polling stations in Russia and abroad in response to opposition calls to protest the election.
Yulia Navalnaya vowed to continue the work of her late husband Alexei as she lined up with crowds in Berlin on Sunday and said she had put his name on the ballot superior.
Moscow had warned Russians not to join the protests and dismissed the opposition on Monday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “There are many people … who have completely separated from their homeland.”
“The Yulia Navalnaya you mentioned belongs to this group of people who have lost their roots,” he added.
Moscow often accuses hundreds of thousands of Russians who fled their homeland after the Ukraine offensive as traitors.
Ballots were also damaged with green dye, and there were several incidents of polling stations being set on fire.
Putin warned on Sunday that Russians who sabotaged votes “must be dealt with” and dismissed opposition protests as “ineffective”.
“this is life”
Putin also mentioned Navalny’s name in public for the first time on Sunday, breaking a years-long tradition of never naming his opponents.
This is the first time he has commented on Navalny’s death in prison on February 16.
Putin said he had approved a prisoner exchange plan that would include Navalny for Russians held in Western prisons, confirming the allegations made by Navalny’s team.
“I agreed to one condition: let’s exchange him and let him not come back,” Putin said.
He said Navalny died days later.
“But it happens. There’s nothing you can do about it. That’s life.”
He did not reveal how Navalny died.
Navalny’s team claims he was killed on the eve of the prisoner exchange.
Navalny is the latest Putin opponent to die under mysterious circumstances.
West slams vote
The Kremlin said Putin spoke by phone with former Soviet allies in Central Asia, Belarus and Azerbaijan after the vote.
Russian state media said he also received congratulations from China, North Korea, Venezuela and Myanmar.
But the result was met with harsh statements from Western leaders – in stark contrast to the previous four elections won by Putin since 2000.
EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said: “This election was based on repression and intimidation.”
Britain also criticized the vote as unfair.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in a statement: “Putin eliminated his political opponents, took control of the media and then crowned himself the winner. This is not democracy.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin was a “dictator” who wanted to “rule forever.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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