President Vladimir Putin
celebrated on Monday before a crowd in Red Square the “return” to Russia of the annexed Ukrainian territories,
the day after his victory in a presidential election considered illegitimate by Western powers.
Putin, 71, was re-elected with 87.28% of the votes for a fifth term, in three-day elections without an opposition candidate with real options and which were also held in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.
The Russian electoral commission and the Kremlin praised Putin's "record" victory, a result forged by suppressing the opposition and presented as proof of national unity after the offensive in Ukraine.
“Hand in hand we will move forward and this will make us stronger (...)Long live Russia!” Putin said before a crowd that attended a concert in Moscow's Red Square, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the annexation of the peninsula. Crimean Ukrainian.
Putin appeared alongside the three candidates who ran against him in the elections, after receiving them at a meeting in the Kremlin in which everyone congratulated him.
The other three candidates obtained 4.31%, 3.85% and 3.20% respectively, according to results that do not include votes abroad.
All of Putin's main opponents are dead, in prison or in exile.
The elections took place a month after Putin's main detractor, Alexei Navalny, died in prison.
A crowd in Red Square.
AFP Photo
It is an “exceptional” result
and “eloquent confirmation of the support of the Russian people” for the president, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov.
Putin, in power for almost a quarter of a century,
achieved 10 points more than in 2018.
Vladimir Putin “is the foundation of our country,” estimated Viktoria, 23, an employee at a state company who was on her way to the concert in Red Square.
Elena, a 64-year-old economist, said she was not surprised by the result “because any citizen who respects our country voted for Putin.”
Following his victory on Sunday night, Putin declared that this result shows a Russia that will not be “intimidated” by its adversaries.
Vladimir Putin celebrates 10 years since the annexation of Crimea in Moscow's Red Square.
AFP Photo
Bullying
In his speech, he congratulated himself on the “internal political consolidation”, two years after the offensive against Ukraine and Western sanctions against the country.
“It doesn't matter who or how much they want to intimidate us, it doesn't matter who or how much they want to crush us,” he said.
“It hasn’t worked now and it won’t work in the future.”
Throughout the week there were bombings and raids by Ukrainian militiamen on Russian soil to try to disrupt the elections.
Putin, who may run again in 2030 and remain in power until 2036, paid tribute to the soldiers fighting in Ukraine and protecting
"the historical territories of Russia."
In his opinion, Russian forces, since they took control of the town of Avdiivka, in eastern Ukraine, in mid-February, have “all the initiative” on the front.
The opposition managed, however, to express itself symbolically, responding to the call of Navalni's widow.
Yulia Navalnaya,
who promised to continue her husband's cause
and called on her followers to go vote on Sunday at noon.
Navalnaya voted at the Russian embassy in Berlin, where she lives in exile with her children.
Source: AFP and AP
P.B.