president Vladimir Putin Won a record landslide victory in post-Soviet Russia election It tightened its grip on power on Sunday.But thousands of adversaries midday protest At the polling stations, the United States insisted that voting was neither free nor fair.
For Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel who first came to power in 1999, this result means that leaders will remain brave for years to come, whether in war or peace. It is intended to emphasize that Russia must be taken into account.
Early results mean: president putinThe 71-year-old will soon secure a new six-year term. This would allow him to overtake Joseph Stalin as Russia’s longest-serving leader, spanning more than 200 years.
According to an exit poll by the pollster Foundation of Public Opinion (FOM), President Putin won 87.8% of the vote, the highest result in Russia’s post-Soviet history. The Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) puts President Putin’s approval rating at 87%. Initial official results showed the poll was accurate.
“Given that Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him, the election is clearly neither free nor fair,” White House National Security Council spokesperson said. .
The election comes just over two years after President Putin sparked Europe’s worst conflict since World War II. invasion of ukraine. He characterized it as a “special military operation.”
The war continues during the three-day election period. Ukraine has repeatedly attacked Russian oil refineries, shelled Russian regions and tried to break through Russia’s borders with proxy forces, a move Putin said would not go unpunished.
While there is no question of Putin’s re-election given that he rules Russia and has no real challenger, the former KGB spy says he has the overwhelming support of the Russian people. I wanted to show it. Hours before polls closed at 1800 GMT, nationwide turnout exceeded the 2018 level of 67.5%.
Supporter of Putin’s most powerful opponent alexei navalnyHe died in an Arctic prison last month. called About Russians coming out to “Midnight Against Putin” protests to show their opposition to a leader they see as a corrupt dictator.
An independent tally of how many of Russia’s 114 million voters took part in opposition demonstrations, which were held amid extremely tight security and attended by tens of thousands of police and security officials. There wasn’t.
Reuters reporters witnessed an increasing influx of voters, especially young voters, forming lines of hundreds or even thousands at midday at polling stations in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.
Some people said they were protesting, but there were few outward signs to distinguish them from ordinary voters.
As midday struck across Asia and Europe, hundreds of people gathered at voting stations in Russian diplomatic missions abroad. Navalny’s widow, Yulia, appeared at the Russian embassy in Berlin to cheers of “Yulia, Yulia!”
Supporters of the exiled Navalny have posted videos of protests in Russia and abroad on YouTube.
“People realized they were not alone.”
“We have shown ourselves, all Russia and the whole world that Putin has seized power in Russia, not in Russia,” said Ruslan Shavedinov of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. said. “Our victory is that our people overcame fear and overcame loneliness. Many people realized that they were not alone.”
Leonid Volkov, an aide to the exiled Navalny who was attacked with a hammer in Vilnius last week, estimates that hundreds of thousands of people turned out to vote at polling stations in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and other cities.
At least 74 people were arrested across Russia on Sunday, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors opposition crackdowns.
Over the past two days, there have been scattered protests in which some Russians set fire to voting stations and poured green dye into ballot boxes. Russian officials called them cowards and traitors. Opponents posted photos of ballots defaced with slogans insulting Putin.
But with Navalny’s death, the opposition has lost its most formidable leader, with other major opposition figures also overseas, imprisoned or dead.
Western countries consider President Putin a dictator and a murderer. U.S. President Joe Biden last month called him “ “Crazy SOB” The International Criminal Court in The Hague has charged him with war crimes for kidnapping Ukrainian children, a charge the Kremlin denies.
Putin has cast the war as part of a centuries-long battle against a declining and decadent West, arguing that it humiliated Russia by encroaching on Moscow’s post-Cold War sphere of influence. There is.
“Putin’s job now is to change his worldview to ensure a like-minded successor,” said Nikolas Gvosdev, director of the national security program at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Institute. “It’s about making an indelible mark on the minds of Russia’s political forces,” he told Russia Matters. project.
“For the US administration, which had hoped that President Putin’s adventures in Ukraine would decisively set back Russia’s national interests and be over by now, this election is an opportunity for President Putin to step further into the geopolitical boxing ring. It’s a reminder that we expect the rounds to be played.”
Western spy chiefs say the Russian election marks a crossroads for the West and the Ukraine war, which Biden has characterized as a 21st century struggle between democracies and authoritarian states.
Support for Ukraine has become entwined in U.S. domestic politics ahead of the November presidential election between Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump. Congressional Republicans, led by President Trump, blocked military aid to Kiev.
Kiev has retaken territory after an invasion in 2022, but Russian forces have recently made gains following a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive last year.
The Biden administration is concerned that President Putin could seize control of larger parts of Ukraine unless Kyiv receives more support soon. CIA Director William Burns said that could embolden China.
Putin said the West was waging a hybrid war against Russia and that Western intelligence services and Ukraine were trying to interfere with the election.
Voting was also held in Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014, and four other Ukrainian regions that Russia partially controls and claims from 2022. Kiev considers elections in the occupied territories illegal and invalid.
