Protests by Alexei Navalny’s followers, attacks on the border regions with Ukraine and a drone alert over Moscow’s airports did not prevent Vladimir Putin from completing the electoral marathon which confirmed him as president with percentages without any major incidents records that are close to 90%: it is the fifth mandate after 24 years spent in power, the horizon is now 2030. And the Tsar, appearing in the evening at the electoral campaign headquarters, thanked the Russians for their “total trust “. Promising that the country will become stronger and warning adversaries that “no one will intimidate or crush us.” Putin also broke his silence on his opponent who died in prison about a month ago, naming him in public and saying that his death was a “sad event”.
The head of the Kremlin won between 87% and 89% of the preferences, with the other three walk-on candidates practically annihilated. The communist Nikolai Kharitonov, in second position, stopped at 4.7%, that of Gente Nuova, Vladislav Davankov, at 3.6% and that of the Liberal Democratic Party Leonid Slutsky at 2.5%. The three days in which the consultations took place for the first time gave the desired results also in terms of participation, according to official data. Voter turnout is estimated at over 73%, compared to the 67.5% recorded in the previous presidential elections, in 2018. While the electronic voting data is still awaited.
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Video Midday protest, applause for Navalny’s widow at the Russian embassy in Berlin
Massive participation, between 80% and 90%, was also announced in the four Ukrainian regions partially controlled by Moscow’s troops and annexed by Russia in 2022: Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Here Putin’s victory was, if possible, even clearer. The percentages attributed to him reach up to 95% in Donetsk, 94% in Lugansk, 93% in the Zaporizhzhia region and 88% in the Kherson region.
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At the end of the day, the increasingly long-serving leader underlined that “the result of the elections shows that Russia is a big family” and that there is “total confidence among the citizens that we will do everything as planned”. And he addressed “special words of gratitude to the soldiers” who have been fighting in Ukraine for over two years: “they carry out the most important task which is to protect our people”.
Then, Putin issued a warning to those who want to challenge Russia: “No matter how much they tried to scare us, to suppress our will, our conscience, no one has ever succeeded in history. They have failed now and will fail in the future.” And he warned NATO that a conflict would bring “one step away from the third world war”. Surprisingly, he then spoke publicly about Navalny by naming him, a very rare fact up until now. And he explained that he had agreed to exchange him for prisoners held in the West, but on the condition that he did not return to Russia.
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From Kiev, Volodymyr Zelensky called Putin a “power-sick” man who wants to “reign eternally”, and said that the Russian elections have “no legitimacy”.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev instead hailed what he called Putin’s “brilliant victory”. The West “failed” in its attempts to boycott the elections, said the Foreign Ministry, whose spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, had yesterday relaunched the accusation against the diplomats of Western countries of “interference” in the electoral process . And this in particular due to the support of EU countries and the USA for the opponents.
Queues of hundreds of people formed at 12 in front of polling stations in the center of Moscow and in other cities in response to the appeal launched by Navalny himself shortly before his death for the so-called ‘South against Putin’. But everything took place without serious incidents, even if the NGO Ovd-Info reported 74 arrests across Russia, mainly due to individual protest incidents. Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s former right-hand man who was attacked with a hammer in recent days in Lithuania, said that Putin’s landslide victory “has nothing to do with reality”.
Even in the border region of Belgorod the polling stations remained open in these three days despite repeated Ukrainian bombings and infiltration attempts claimed by Russian paramilitary groups part of Kiev’s forces. Russia has faced these three election days in a climate of tension due to security fears. In Moscow a notable police deployment was visible today in several strategic points, including the main metro stations. And the day began with anti-aircraft fire coming into action near the international airports of Vnukovo and Domodedovo. Mayor Serghei Sobyanin announced that a drone was shot down near this second airport. But the eyes of the whole world are now on the Tsar’s next moves.
Tajani, ‘Russian elections neither free nor regular’
“The elections in Russia were neither free nor regular and also involved illegally occupied Ukrainian territories. We continue to work for a just peace that will lead Russia to end the war of aggression against Ukraine in compliance with international law”. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote it on X.
Cameron, elections in Russia not free and fair
London deplores “not free and fair” elections in Russia. “The polls have closed in Russia, after the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, the lack of choice for voters and the absence of independent monitoring by the OSCE. These are not the characteristics of free and fair elections “, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron wrote on X.
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