On Monday, the electoral commission announced the results of a vote in which Vladimir Putin easily won a fifth term as president of Russia. The vote took place in the midst of the harshest suppression of opposition and free speech since the Soviet era.
While politicians throughout Europe denounced Russia’s attempts to hold elections in seized areas of Ukraine that it claims as its own territory, Putin stated that the vote’s landslide margin demonstrated that Russians had put their “trust” and “hopes” in him.
Here are some quotes from Putin, European leaders, and other sources:
Naturally, we have a ton of work ahead of us. However, I want to be clear with everyone: since we were consolidated, nobody has ever been able to
to intimidate us, to stifle our conscience and will. They have failed in the past and will continue to fail.” — Russian President Vladimir Putin
“The elections took place in an ever-shrinking political space, which has resulted in an alarming increase of violations of civil and political rights, and precluded many candidates from running, including all those opposed to Russia’s illegal war of aggression.” – an official declaration from the EU
“The imitation of elections has no legitimacy.” — Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, during Sunday’s nightly radio speech
“I want everything to stay the way it is because I am happy with everything.” — Dmitry Sergienko, a Moscow voter who supports Putin
Naturally, the outcomes are astounding. It is a grave warning to the West.
It has attempted to undermine Russia’s internal situation. — President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, following his congratulatory call to Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with authorities
“Voters who came to vote at noon were detained, searches were conducted at polling place entrances, and ballots were attempted to be checked before being placed in voting boxes. There is now a claim that at one voting place in Moscow, the police have ordered the chairman of a commission (consisting of poll workers) to open a vote box and provide them with a ballot that has been marked. I have never witnessed such absurdity in my life. — On Telegram, Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chair of Golos, an independent election monitor
“I am happy that individuals who are not confined to the political jail that is called Russia currentlycannot express their ideas. For instance, of the Russians who visited the Russian consulate in Vilnius to cast ballots, only 3% supported Vladimir Putin. Others made the decision to either sabotage the newspaper or cast their ballots for any other candidate. The foreign minister of Lithuania, Gabrielius Landsbergis
Due to the illegitimate election held on Ukrainian territory, limited voting options, and a lack of independent OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) monitoring, the polls in Russia have closed. Free and fair elections don’t look like this. ― British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on X, formerly known as Twitter.
