Russian President Vladimir Putin has won the presidential election in a landslide victory, reinstating him to his fifth consecutive term. Early results from Russia’s Central Election Commission show the 71-year-old won 87 per cent of the vote in a result that has been widely criticised as illigitimate by some Western nations.
In his first press conference since the polls closed on Sunday, Putin, who will lead the country for another six years, said his victory showed Russians trusted his leadership.
“I want to thank all of you and all citizens of the country for your support and this trust,” he said.
“No matter who or how much they want to intimidate us, no matter who or how much they want to suppress us, our will, our consciousness — no one has ever succeeded in anything like this in history. It has not worked now and will not work in the future. Never.”
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Several countries in the West have criticised the elections, dismissing them as illegitimate. The US government called the vote neither free nor fair.
“The elections are obviously not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him,” a spokesperson from the White House’s National Security Council said.
US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby said, “The elections are obviously not free nor fair given how Mr Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “this election fraud has no legitimacy and cannot have any”.
“These days, the Russian dictator is simulating another election,” he said. “It is clear to everyone in the world that this figure, as it has already often happened in the course of history, is simply sick for power and is doing everything to rule forever.”
In an address on Sunday evening, Zelenskyy accused Putin of being “addicted to power”.
“This imitation of ‘elections’ has no legitimacy and cannot have any,” he said. “This person must end up in the dock in The Hague. This is what we must ensure, anyone in the world who values life and decency.”
Meanwhile, the German foreign ministry released a statement, posted on X, that described the “pseudo-elections in Russia… neither free nor fair.”
“Putin’s rule is authoritarian, based on censorship, repression and violence. The “elections” in the occupied territories of Ukraine are invalid and another violation of international law,” the statement read.
Alexei Navalny
In his press conference overnight, Putin addressed the death of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was suspected of being poisoned with a Soviet-era novichok nerve agent, and died in an Arctic prison earlier this year.
“As for Mr Navalny. Yes, he passed away. This is a sad event,” Putin said.
“A few days before Mr Navalny passed away, some colleagues told me… there was an idea to exchange Mr Navalny for some people who are in prison in Western countries… I said, ‘I agree.’”
In Berlin, Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya appeared at a rally in front of the city’s Russian embassy, encouraging supporters to continue showing up to the “Noon against Putin” protests occurring across various cities around the world.
“You give me hope that everything is not in vain, that we will still fight,” Navalnaya said in a post on Sunday evening.
Earlier this month, she appeared in a YouTube video, urging supporters to join her in the polling protests named “midday against Putin.”
“I want to do what he thought was right,” she said in the video, referring to her late husband.
“There are many people around you who are anti-Putin and anti-war, and if we come at the same time, our anti-Putin voice will be much louder.”
“You can ruin the ballot, you can write ‘Navalny’ in big letters on it. And even if you don’t see the point in voting at all, you can just come and stand at the polling station and then turn around and go home.”
A representative from Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation said overnight, “We showed ourselves, all of Russia and the whole world that Putin is not Russia, that Putin has seized power in Russia.”
Around the world, protests erupted as thousands demonstrated against Putin’s growing dictatorship and the war in Ukraine. Over the three days the polls were open, voters witnessed several incidents of vandalism and arson at polling stations across the country.
In a district in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg, a woman threw a Molotov cocktail at the signboard of a polling station. Another woman is currently being investigated for pouring green dye into a ballot box in an attempt to damage voting slips.
Ella Pamfilova, the chair of the electoral commission, said her department has opened a criminal case against the woman, and that such crimes could lead to a five year jail sentence.
“Especially for all the scumbags who are ready to destroy the votes of people who came and voted because of these silver pieces,” she said, referring to reports that claim some perpetrators had been paid by Ukraine to cause civil disobedience.
Alena Bulgakova, chair of the Russian Civic Chamber, said “Considering the synchronicity of incidents in different regions, one can assume a deliberate organised provocation.”