President Vladimir Putin has claimed a landslide victory in Russia’s presidential election. Thousands of people across the country and around the world protested Putin’s deepening authoritarian rule, the war in Ukraine, and a staged election in which there was only one winner.
Putin won 87% of the vote in a vote that the United States denounced as “clearly neither free nor fair,” according to exit polls released by state-run polling companies Russian Public Opinion Research Center and Public Opinion Foundation.
In a speech at his campaign headquarters on Sunday evening, President Putin dismissed Western criticism of the election and told supporters that the election was “predicted.”
“What did I want them to applaud? They are fighting alongside us in armed conflicts… Their goal is to contain our development. Of course they are ready to say anything. It’s done,” he said.
In his victory speech, Putin claimed to be defending the border from recent attacks by pro-Ukrainian military units and said his main task as president was to “strengthen the defense and military capabilities” of the Ukraine war. became the focus. .
Asked about the possibility of a direct conflict with NATO, he said: “I think anything is possible in the modern world…Everyone understands that this is one step away from a full-blown World War III. I don’t think anyone would be interested in that. ”
He also reacted for the first time to the death of Alexei Navalny, claiming shortly before his death that he had approved the exchange of Russian prisoners in the West for Kremlin critics. “Unfortunately, what happened is what happened,” he said. “I agreed on one condition: I would trade him, but he should never come back. But that’s life.”
After counting 75% of the votes cast, Russia’s election commission claimed Putin was leading with 87.14% of the vote. Second place went to Communist Party candidate Nikolai Kharitonov.
The government also claimed that turnout was an all-time high with 74% of eligible voters. Putin’s previous best performance was in 2018, when he received 76.7% of the vote with a turnout of 67.5%.
At a time when Putin was seeking a public mandate for the war in Ukraine and a fifth presidential term, the Kremlin’s electoral machinery sought to boost Putin’s vote share and turnout to near-farcical levels, It published results that were only seen in the most despotic regions. Chechnya.
In the face of Putin’s expected victory, Russia’s embattled opposition sought to project its strength. Long lines formed at noon on Sunday at several polling stations in Moscow and other Russian cities as people responded to a call from the widow of the president’s most prominent opponent, Alexei Navalny.
At the Russian embassy in Berlin, Yulia Navalnaya called on her supporters to come out en masse in a symbolic show of force dubbed “Noon vs. Putin.” Her husband supported the plan until his sudden death in an Arctic prison a month ago.
Navalnaya was greeted with loud applause and chants from voters and thanked those who had gathered to honor her husband. “You gave me hope that all is not in vain. That we can still fight,” she said in her post last night. She wrote “Navalny” on her ballot, she said.
The election was immediately criticized by Western countries. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: “Given that Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from standing up to him, the election is clearly neither free nor fair.” ” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a speech Sunday night that Putin has become “addicted to power.”
“This imitation of an ‘election’ has no legitimacy and there can never be any legitimacy,” he said. “This person must end up on the docks of The Hague. This is what we must assure everyone around the world who values life and decency.”
In a post about X, Germany’s Foreign Ministry wrote, “Germany’s pseudo-election.” #Russia It’s neither free nor fair, but the outcome will surprise no one. President Putin’s rule is authoritarian and relies on censorship, repression, and violence. “Elections” in occupied territories #Ukraine This is invalid and a new violation of international law. ”
Navalny’s team urged voters to deface their ballots, write “Alexei Navalny” on them, or vote for one of three candidates to challenge Putin. The opposition views them as the Kremlin’s “puppets.”
Reports from the field said that as the clock struck noon, lines suddenly formed at many polling stations in Russia’s largest cities.
Leonid Volkov, a close aide to Mr Navalny who was attacked with a hammer by unknown assailants in Vilnius last week, said thousands of people were queuing at midday at polling stations across the country.
“We have shown all of Russia and the whole world that Putin is not Russia, that Putin has seized power in Russia,” said Ruslan Shavedinov of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Leaked documents shared with the Guardian show that in the lead-up to Putin’s victory, Russia disqualified anti-war candidates, launched an unprecedented vote-exclusion campaign targeting state officials, and engaged in a propaganda campaign of 10 More than a billion pounds was spent.
Russia’s leader has not faced a meaningful election campaign since authorities eliminated two candidates who had expressed opposition to the war in Ukraine. The other three politicians running for election did not directly question Putin’s authority, and their participation was aimed at lending legitimacy to the campaign.
Long lines formed at noon in places popular with Russian immigrants, including Berlin, Yerevan in Armenia, London and the Thai island of Phuket. Hundreds of thousands of Russians are estimated to have left their country since the invasion of Ukraine began more than two years ago.
“This action was Navalinly’s last wish. He had to come at noon today,” said Dmitry, a Russian voter who moved to Phuket shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine, but did not want to change his last name for fear of repercussions. I asked him to put his face down.
German news agency Deutsche Welle estimated that more than 2,000 voters turned out for the midday protest outside the Russian embassy in Berlin.
Russian prosecutors on Friday threatened voters who took part in the “High Noon Against Putin” action with five years in prison. In the southern city of Kazan, police detained more than 20 voters who took part in the protests, according to independent rights monitoring group OVD-Info. Arrests were also reported in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Separate protests, including pouring dye into ballot boxes and burning polling stations, had already taken place before Sunday.
Russian election official Ella Panfilova said those who defaced ballots were “bastards” and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said those responsible could face 20 years of treason. said. Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that it had filed 155 administrative complaints during the election period and opened 61 criminal cases, including 21 for interfering with voters’ rights.
Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chair of Golos’ independent election monitoring group, said pressure from law enforcement on voters has reached extraordinary levels.
“I have never seen such injustice in my life. I have been observing elections for 20 years,” Andreychuk told Telegram, referring to the actions of the police who allegedly checked ballots before voting. Ta.
Under constitutional reforms engineered in 2020, Putin is eligible to seek two more six-year terms after his term expires next year and could remain in power until 2036.
If he remains president until then, he will be the country’s longest-serving leader since the Russian Empire, surpassing even Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union for 29 years.
