FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The election result means Vladimir Putin, 71, will begin a new six-year term and if he completes it, he will overtake Josef Stalin to become Russia's longest-serving leader in 200 years .
Vladimir Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel who came to power in 1999, made it clear that the result should send a message to the West that its leaders will have to face a bold Russia, whether in war or peace, for many years to come.
The election result means Vladimir Putin, 71, will begin a new six-year term and if he completes it, he will overtake Josef Stalin to become Russia's longest-serving leader in 200 years .
He won 87.8 percent of the vote, the highest ever in Russia's post-Soviet history. The United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and other countries have said the vote was neither free nor fair because of the jailing of political opponents and censorship. Communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov came second with just under 4 percent of the vote, followed by Vladislav Davankov and ultranationalist Leonid Slutsky.
Vladimir Putin told supporters in a speech in Moscow that he would prioritize fulfilling tasks related to what he called Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine and strengthen the Russian military.
"We have many tasks ahead of us. But when we are consolidated - regardless of who wants to intimidate us, oppress us - no one has succeeded in history, they have not succeeded now and they will never succeed in the future," he said.
Inspired by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison last month, thousands protested at midday against Putin at polling stations inside Russia and abroad.
Putin told reporters that he considered Russia's elections to be democratic and that the protest, inspired by Navalny, had no impact on the outcome of the election. In his first comments on his death, he also said Mr Navalny's death had been a "sad event" and confirmed he had been open to a prisoner swap involving the opposition politician. Asked by the American television network NBC if his re-election was democratic, Putin criticized the political and judicial system of the United States.
"The whole world is laughing at what's happening (in the United States)," he said. "This is a disaster, not a democracy."
"..Is it democratic to use administrative resources to attack one of the candidates for the presidency of the United States, using, among other things, the judiciary?" he said, making a clear reference to the accusations against Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Russian elections were held just over two years after Putin sparked the deadliest European conflict since World War II by ordering aggression in Ukraine.
The war cast its shadow over the three-day election. Ukraine has repeatedly attacked Russian oil refineries, bombed Russian regions and tried to infiltrate Russian borders, an action Putin said would not go unpunished. President Putin said Russia may have to create a "security zone" inside Ukraine to prevent such attacks in the future. While his re-election was not in doubt given his grip on Russia and the lack of a real challenger, the former KGB spy was keen to show that he enjoys overwhelming Russian support.
Officials said voter turnout reached 74.22 percent at 7 p.m. when polling stations closed, up from 67.5 percent in 2018. There is no independent indication of how many of Russia's 114 million voters took part in the opposition protests, amid extremely tight security that included tens of thousands of police and security officials. Reuters news agency reporters saw an increase in the number of voters, especially young people, at midday at several polling stations in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.
Some said they were protesting, although they had no visible signs to distinguish them from ordinary voters. At least 74 people were arrested across Russia on Sunday, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors crackdowns on the opposition. Over the previous two days, there were several incidents of protest, as some Russians set voting booths on fire or threw green paint on ballot boxes. Opponents posted several photos of spoiled ballot papers with slogans insulting Putin.
But Mr Navalny's death has left the opposition without its most determined leader, while other major opposition figures are in exile, in prison or dead. The West considers Putin an autocrat and a murderer. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Sunday that Putin wants to rule forever, calling the vote illegal.
Putin portrays the war as part of a century-long battle with a declining West, which he says humiliated post-Cold War Russia by encroaching on Moscow's sphere of influence. Russia's election was held at a time that Western intelligence chiefs see as a crossroads for the war in Ukraine.
Support for Ukraine has become entangled in US domestic politics ahead of the November presidential election. Although Kiev regained territory after the aggression in 2022, Russian forces have made gains after a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive last year./VOA
Lini një Përgjigje