Vladimir Putin wins Russia election with 87.8% of the vote, exit poll shows
Vladimir Putin has won Russia’s presidential election with 87.8% of the vote and secured another six-year term as the country’s leader, according to official Russian election polls.
If the margin of his victory is as polls state, it will mean he will have achieved his biggest win in an election out of the four he has been involved in.
After polls closed in Russia, he had nearly 88% of the vote with 24% of the precincts counted, according to Russia’s Central Election Commission.
The election, which involved Ukrainian territories under illegal Russian control, took place amid attacks within Russia by Ukrainian missiles and drones, which killed several people.
Mr Putin only faced competition from three rivals in the election who all back the Kremlin’s policies and represent parties who have not criticised the Russian leader’s rule or his invasion of Ukraine.
Putin’s fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile.
Western countries criticised the election after the results were announced and said they were not “free or a fair”.
A White house national security council spokesperson said: “The elections are obviously not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him.”
Germany’s foreign ministry X account wrote in a post: “The result will surprise nobody. Putin’s rule is authoritarian, he relies on censorship, repression & violence.”
The British Foreign Office said: “By illegally holding elections on Ukrainian territory, Russia demonstrates that it is not interested in finding a path to peace. The UK will continue to provide humanitarian, economic and military aid to Ukrainians defending their democracy.”
Alexei Navalny’s widow joined anti Putin protestors in Berlin today, as thousands queued outside polling stations and dozens were arrested in Russia for resisting the Russian leader’s presidency.
Yulia Navalnya joined a long line at the Russian Embassy in the city, as some in the crowd applauded and chanted her name.
She spent more than five hours in the line and told reporters after casting her vote that she wrote her late husband’s name on the ballot.
Asked whether she had a message for Putin, Ms Navalnaya replied: “Please stop asking for messages from me or from somebody for Mr. Putin. There could be no negotiations and nothing with Mr. Putin, because he’s a killer, he’s a gangster.”
The OVD-Info group that monitors political arrests said 80 people were arrested in 20 cities across Russia today.
Despite tight controls, several dozen cases of vandalism at polling stations were reported across the three-day voting period.
Several people were arrested, including in Moscow and St. Petersburg, after they tried to start fires or set off explosives at polling stations, while others were detained for throwing green antiseptic or ink into ballot boxes.
Independent Russian media posted images of spoiled ballots posted by voters, with “killer and thief” inscribed on one.
“Waiting for you in The Hague” was written on another – a reference to an arrest warrant issued for Putin on war crimes charges related to his alleged responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.
Dmitry Medvedev, a deputy head of the Russian Security Council chaired by Putin, called for toughening the punishment for those who vandalize polling stations, arguing they should face treason charges.
Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chair of the Golos independent election watchdog, said that pressure on voters from law enforcement had reached unprecedented levels.
He said Russians, were searched at polling stations, their ballots checked before they were cast, and police demanded a ballot box was opened to remove a ballot.
While polls closed Sunday night in Russia voting continued at some of the country’s embassies around the world.
