Putin wins Russian election with 87.8% of the votes, exit poll shows, cementing his position at the top of the Kremlin until at least 2030 – as Zelensky accuses despot of ‘doing everything to rule forever’
Vladimir Putin has won Russia’s elections with 87.8 percent of the vote, exit polls show, cementing his position at the top of the Kremlin until at least 2030.
The despot is heading for a landslide victory in the presidential election, securing a new six-year term in office, according to the poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center this evening.
But the US and Ukraine are among about two dozen countries expressing disdain at the expected outcome.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has accused the Russian tyrant, 71, of “doing everything he can to rule forever.”
The low-tension vote comes against the backdrop of the toughest crackdown on political opposition and freedom of expression in Russia since Soviet times.
Only three token candidates — and none opposed to his war in Ukraine — were allowed to run against him as he sought a fifth term.
Previous demonstrations against Putin in Russia led to the arrest of more than sixty people.
Vladimir Putin has won the Russian elections with 87.8 percent of the vote, according to exit polls
The Russian tyrant, 71, has consolidated his position at the top of the Kremlin until at least 2030
People attend a rally in Berlin near the Russian embassy where voters lined up to cast their votes for the Russian presidential election
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said tonight that Putin wanted to rule forever and that Russia’s presidential elections were an illegal imitation.
Zelensky said in his nightly video address that “the Russian dictator is simulating a new election,” and that Putin was “sick of power and is doing everything he can to rule forever.”
‘There is no legitimacy in this imitation of elections, and there cannot be. This person should stand trial in The Hague. That is what we must guarantee,” he added
A White House national security spokesman said noThe elections are clearly not free and fair, given the way Mr. Putin has jailed political opponents and prevented others from running against him.”
Poland is another country that does not recognize the legitimacy of the elections and labels them as ‘illegal’.
“The presidential elections in Russia are not legal, free and fair,” a foreign ministry statement said, adding that the vote had taken place “under harsh repression.”
The British Foreign Office wrote about
“The UK will continue to provide humanitarian, economic and military assistance to Ukrainians defending their democracy.”
Previously, votes from Russian citizens living in other countries were cast around the world.
In Britain, dozens of people queued outside the Russian embassy in London to vote in the elections. The queue was at least half a mile long when MailOnline visited.
Thousands of people across the country opposed to the veteran Kremlin leader had gone to their local polling stations in the afternoon to spoil their ballots in protest or vote for one of three candidates opposed to Putin.
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of late Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny, talks to a woman during a meeting at the Russian Embassy in Berlin
The Kremlin portrays Navalny’s political allies – most of whom are based outside Russia – as dangerous extremists seeking to destabilize the country on behalf of the West
Navalny’s allies broadcast videos on YouTube of lines of people queuing at various polling stations across Russia in the afternoon
Protests grew outside the Russian embassy in London earlier today
The line stretched far along Bayswater Road, just north of Hyde Park
Others had vowed to scribble the name of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison last month, on their ballots.
Navalny’s allies broadcast videos on YouTube of lines of people queuing at various polling stations across Russia in the afternoon, who they said were there to peacefully protest.
Navalny had endorsed the ‘Noon against Putin’ plan before his death in a social media post facilitated by his lawyers. The independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta called the planned action ‘Navalny’s political testament’.
His widow Yulia Navalnaya took part in an afternoon protest against Putin in Berlin on Sunday afternoon.
Navalnaya’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh posted photos on X of the dissident queuing in the German capital, where Russians were lining up to vote. Activists said some people chanted and clapped “Yulia, Yulia.”
In Paris, a large line of people was seen outside the Russian embassy, while protesters were seen in nearby green spaces holding up signs with critical messages about Putin written on them.
One protester held a sign accusing the despot of being a murderer, while another compared Putin to Stalin and called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “genocide” and “terrorism.”
People queue in front of a polling station during the Russian presidential election in Moscow
A police officer checks a man as he and other people queue in front of a polling station during the Russian presidential election in Saint Petersburg
(Image: A police officer checks a voter queuing at a polling station in Moscow) At least 65 people have been arrested in 16 cities in Russia alone
Pictured: Voters line up for police checks at a polling station at noon local time in Moscow
In Russia itself, the main means of protest across the country was the ‘Noon against Putin’ movement.
Navalny’s allies broadcast videos on YouTube of lines of people queuing at various polling stations across Russia in the afternoon, who they said were there to peacefully protest.
Navalny had endorsed the ‘Noon against Putin’ plan before his death in a social media post facilitated by his lawyers. The independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta called the planned action ‘Navalny’s political testament’.
At least 65 people have been arrested in anti-Putin demonstrations in Russia alone in 16 cities across the country, according to the independent election monitoring group OVD-Info.
The Kremlin has branded Navalny’s political allies – most of whom are based outside Russia – as dangerous extremists bent on destabilizing the country on behalf of the West.
It says Putin enjoys overwhelming support among ordinary Russians, pointing to opinion polls that put his approval rating above 80%.
Because Russia’s vast land mass spanned eleven time zones, protest voters were spread out rather than concentrated in a single mass, making it difficult to estimate how many people turned out for the protest event.