Vladimir Putin has secured another six-year term as Russian president paving the way for the hardline former spy to become the longest-serving Russian
Vladimir Putin has secured another six-year term as Russian president paving the way for the hardline former spy to become the longest-serving Russian leader in more than 200 years.
The government-run VTsIOM pollster projected that Putin had sailed to an easy victory with 87 percent of the vote after polls closed in Russia’s western-most region of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea.
The three-day election was marked by a surge in deadly Ukrainian bombardments, incursions into Russian territory by pro-Kyiv sabotage groups and vandalism at polling stations.
The Kremlin had cast the election as moment for Russians to throw their weight behind the full-scale military operation in Ukraine, where voting is also being staged in Russian-controlled territories.
Kyiv and its allies slammed the vote as a sham and President Volodymyr Zelensky lashed out at Putin as a dictator who was drunk from power.
“There is no evil he will not commit to prolong his personal power,” Zelensky said in a message on social media.
Ukrainian ally Poland said the vote was not legal, free and fair, in a statement issued by the foreign ministry.
EU chief Charles Michel had sarcastically congratulated Putin on his landslide victory on the first day of polls opening on Friday.
Former Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev meanwhile congratulated Putin on his “splendid victory” long before the final results were due to be announced.
And state-run television praised how Russians and rallied with colossal support for the president as well as the unbelievable consolidation of the country behind its leader.
