Russia’s autocratic president Vladimir Putin is set to rule for at least six more years, after early results show he secured an expected landslide victory in elections that were tightly controlled and closed to all genuine opposition challengers.
Officials said that, with 24 per cent of ballots counted, Mr Putin (71) had taken 88 per cent of votes after a three-day election that took place against the backdrop of cross-border raids by anti-Kremlin militants based in Ukraine and more damaging drone strikes on Russian oil refineries.
The early results said Communist candidate Nikola Kharitonov took 3.8 per cent of votes, ahead of “pro-business” politician Vladislav Davankov on 3.7 per cent and nationalist Leonid Slutsky on 3 per cent. Election officials said in-person turnout was 73 per cent. An opaque system of electronic voting also operated in many regions.
Dmitry Sergienko, who voted in Moscow, told reporters he voted for Mr Putin: “I am happy with everything and want everything to continue as it is now.”
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Another Putin supporter, Olga Dymova, said: “I am sure that our country will only move forward towards success.”
Western states said the election was a sham and voting in occupied parts of Ukraine was illegal: “The pseudo-election in Russia is neither free nor fair, the result will surprise nobody. Putin’s rule is authoritarian, he relies on censorship, repression and violence,” the German foreign ministry said. “The ‘election’ in the occupied territories of Ukraine are null and void and another breach of international law.”
Mr Putin has ruled for 24 years and all of his main opponents are dead, jailed or exiled. His most prominent critic, anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny (47), died suddenly in an Arctic jail last month after enduring years of repression.
[ Putin’s re-election inevitable amid deepening authoritarianism in RussiaOpens in new window ]
Journalists at many polling stations in Russia and at Russian embassies in foreign capitals reported a marked increase in voters at midday, in apparent response to a call from Mr Navalny’s allies for a “noon against Putin” protest. Mr Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, was cheered as she joined such a protest near the Russian embassy in Berlin.
[ Who is Yulia Navalnaya?Opens in new window ]
Independent human rights monitor OVD-Info said dozens of people were detained at polling stations across Russia for taking part in the noon protest or for registering opposition to Mr Putin in other ways, such as pouring dye into ballot boxes and marking voting papers with messages such as “No to war”.
“We showed ourselves, all of Russia and the whole world that Putin is not Russia, that Putin has seized power in Russia,” said Ruslan Shaveddinov of the Anti-Corruption Foundation that Mr Navalny founded.
In the latest wave of now daily Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian cities and energy facilities, Russia’s military said it shot down 35 drones on Sunday. An oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region became at least the sixth such site to be hit in a week.
Three groups of Russian anti-Putin militants based in Ukraine continued a cross-border raid into the Russian region of Belgorod that began last Tuesday. They claim to have seized control of two villages and captured several Russian soldiers.
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