Moscow:
Russia’s electoral commission on Monday welcomed President Vladimir Putin’s “record” results and guaranteed the former spy a fifth term in office after a vote with no credible opposition.
The Kremlin cited the weekend election – marred by vote saboteurs and Ukrainian bombing of border areas – as evidence that Russians were backing Putin’s attack on Ukraine.
Putin’s victory was inevitable, paving the way for him to become Russia’s longest-serving leader in more than two centuries.
All of the 71-year-old’s main opponents are dead, either in prison or in exile, and the vote comes a month after Putin’s main challenger Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison.
Kremlin-friendly election chief Ella Pamfilova said “nearly 76 million people” voted for Putin. “That’s a record number.”
Putin launched the 2022 Ukraine campaign, causing Russia to fall into isolation from the West.
“Facing the West, we are united,” Pamfilova said.
In a victory speech on Sunday night, Putin vowed that Moscow would resist external pressure.
“No matter who they want to intimidate or to what extent, no matter who they want to suppress or to what extent, our will, our consciousness – no one in history has ever succeeded in something like this,” he said.
“It doesn’t work now and it won’t work in the future. Never.”
Ballot saboteurs will be ‘dealt with’
Since his last days in power in 1999, Putin has cultivated an image as a strongman, telling Russians he is fighting to preserve Moscow’s national identity, which he claims is under threat.
His offensive in Ukraine has been accompanied by a massive crackdown at home, with the number of Russian political prisoners rising rapidly.
Thousands of people lined up at polling stations in Russia and abroad in response to opposition calls to protest the election.
Ballots were also damaged with green dye, and there were several incidents of polling stations being set on fire.
Putin vowed that Russians who sabotaged votes “must be dealt with” and dismissed opposition protests as “ineffective”.
He said the vote showed Russians’ “trust” in him.
The three-day vote also takes place in Russian-occupied Ukraine, which has seen a surge in deadly bombings of border areas with Russia.
Authorities said attacks in Ukraine last week killed 11 people in Russia’s Belgorod region.
China and North Korea congratulate Putin
Putin’s victory in the previous four presidential elections since 2000 was met with congratulations from Western leaders, but this time his victory was met with harsh words.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said: “This was not a free and fair election.”
President Zelensky has slammed Putin as a “dictator” who is “drunk on power” as he battles Russian forces in Ukraine.
But other countries also offered congratulations, including China, North Korea, Venezuela and Myanmar.
Russia says it is seeking new allies after cutting ties with the West over Ukraine.
Putin reiterated on Sunday night that Moscow particularly intends to strengthen ties with its neighbor China.
“Our relationship is stable and mutually reinforcing,” he said. “The most important thing is that the national interests are aligned.”
Putin says Navalny’s name
In Berlin, which has a large Russian immigrant community, Yulia Navalnaya queued outside the Moscow embassy at noon and said she had written her late husband’s name on the ballot.
“Obviously, I wrote Navalny’s name,” the 47-year-old told the supportive crowd, vowing to continue her husband’s work.
Putin has been intolerant of genuine opposition throughout his rule and has refused to publicly name his main rival Alexei Navalny for about a decade.
On Sunday, he broke with that tradition, acknowledging the challenger’s death for the first time and saying his name.
“As for Mr. Navalny. Yes, he died. It is always a sad event,” he said late Sunday.
The Russian leader confirmed claims by Navalny’s allies that he had agreed to free Navalny in a prisoner swap with the West just days before his death.
Putin said a colleague offered Navalny days before his death an exchange for “some people” currently being held in prisons in Western countries.
“I said ‘I agree’ before the person I was speaking to had finished speaking.”
Navalny’s allies claim Putin ordered his killing on the eve of the exchange.
Navalny is the latest Putin rival to die under mysterious circumstances that the Kremlin has yet to fully clarify.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
