Vladimir Putin has won Russian Presidential elections in a landslide victory. Putin cemented his already tight grip on power in a victory he said showed Moscow had been right to stand up to the West and send its troops into Ukraine, Reuters reported.
The report mentioned Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel who first rose to power in 1999, made it clear that the result should send a message to the West that its leaders will have to reckon with an emboldened Russia, whether in war or in peace, for many more years to come.
The victory shows Putin, 71, is set to embark on a new six-year term that will see him overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia's longest-serving leader for more than 200 years if he completes it.
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The report mentioned Putin won 87.8% of the vote, the highest ever result in Russia's post-Soviet history.
However, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and other nations have said the vote was neither free nor fair due to the imprisonment of political opponents and censorship, it said.
The report mentioned communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov finished second with just under 4%, newcomer Vladislav Davankov third, and ultra-nationalist Leonid Slutsky fourth.
Putin as per the report after the victory said that he would prioritise resolving tasks associated with what he called Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine and would strengthen the Russian military.
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"We have many tasks ahead. But when we are consolidated - no matter who wants to intimidate us, suppress us - nobody has ever succeeded in history, they have not succeeded now, and they will not succeed ever in the future," Putin was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, following the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison last month, thousands of opponents protested at noon against Putin at polling stations inside Russia and abroad, the report said.
Putin reportedly said he regarded Russia's election as democratic and said the Navalny-inspired protest against him had had no effect on the election's outcome.
On Navalny's death, Putin as per the report said it was "sad event" and confirmed that he had been ready to do a prisoner swap involving the opposition politician.
On the question of whether his re-election was democratic, Putin as per the report criticised the US political and judicial systems.
"The whole world is laughing at what is happening (in the United States).This is just a disaster, not a democracy," he was quoted as saying.
"...Is it democratic to use administrative resources to attack one of the candidates for the presidency of the United States, using the judiciary among other things?" he asked.
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The Russian election comes just over two years since Putin triggered the deadliest European conflict since World War Two by ordering the invasion of Ukraine.
