The protests of Alexei Navalny's followers, the 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. According to several exit polls and with the counting of votes already well underway, the head of the Kremlin has 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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The first international reaction was that of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, according to whom Vladimir Putin is a man "sick of power" who wants to "reign forever".
Zelensky added 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 for the support of EU countries and the USA for opponents, especially in the person of Alexei Navalny and now his collaborators.
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Queues of hundreds of people formed at 12 in front of polling stations in central Moscow and 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.
Today two people, including a 16-year-old girl, were killed and 11 injured by Ukrainian rockets.
In Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, a man threw two Molotov cocktails at the Russian embassy, where voting operations were underway, without causing casualties or damage.
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.
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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