President Vladimir Putin extended his reign over Russia in a whose outcome was never in doubt, declaring Monday his determination to advance and dangling new threats against the West.
After the harshest crackdown on dissent since Soviet times, it was clear from the earliest returns that Putin's would continue with a fifth term that grants him six more years. Still, Russians heeded a call to protest Putin鈥檚 repression and his war in Ukraine by showing up at polling stations at noon on Sunday.
With all the precincts counted Monday, election officials said Putin had secured a record number of votes, underlining his total control over the political system. Western leaders denounced the election as a sham.
The election was 鈥渘either free nor fair in any sort of way,鈥� said Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
Ahead of the election, Putin's greatest political foe, died in an Arctic penal colony, anti-war candidates were barred from the ballot and independent voices were silenced in a No independent monitoring organizations were able to observe the election and analysts said online polling meant the vote was highly susceptible to manipulation. Any or his war in Ukraine has been stifled.
Putin appeared Monday evening on Red Square in the heart of Moscow at a concert to mark the tenth year since he annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Putin鈥檚 three token challengers for the presidency appeared on stage beside him and publicly supported him after campaigns in which none of them criticized him.
Putin has led Russia as president or prime minister since December 1999. At the end of his fifth term, he would be the longest-serving Russian leader since Catherine the Great, who ruled during the 18th century.
Emboldened by his sweeping victory, Putin said he planned to carve out a in Ukraine to protect Russia from cross-border shelling and attacks. Asked if an open clash could erupt between Russia and NATO, Putin responded curtly by saying: 鈥淓verything is possible in today鈥檚 world,鈥� adding: 鈥渋t鈥檚 clear to everyone that it will put us a step away from full-scale World War III."
Russian officials said they recruited over 500,000 volunteers for the army last year, but many expect Putin to mobilize more forces to attempt to push deeper into Ukraine. Analysts say that in the post-election period, Russian authorities could introduce unpopular measures such as raising taxes.
The Kremlin, Gould-Davies said, is now 鈥渋ncreasingly confident,鈥� adding Russian officials have 鈥渓earned just how passive the population is and how effective their own repression is.鈥�
Russia鈥檚 Central Election Commission said Monday that with all the precincts counted, Putin got 87% of the vote. Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said that nearly 76 million voters cast their ballots for Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was critical of the election and voting in regions of his country that Russia has illegally annexed, saying "everything Russia does on the occupied territory of Ukraine is a crime.鈥�
Germany sharply criticized the vote with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's spokeswoman, Christina Hoffmann, saying that 鈥渋n our opinion, it was not a democratic election.鈥�
鈥淩ussia, as the chancellor has already said, is now a dictatorship and is ruled by Vladimir Putin in an authoritarian manner,鈥� she told reporters in Berlin.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis also derided the voting in Russia: "some might call it reappointment, lacking any legitimacy.鈥�
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Putin, as did North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the presidents of nations that have historic and current ties to Russia, such as Azerbaijan and Belarus.
Navalny's associates urged those unhappy with Putin or the war to go to the polls at noon on Sunday 鈥� and lines outside a number of polling stations both inside Russia and at its embassies around the world appeared to swell at that time.
Navalny鈥檚 widow, Yulia Navalnaya, who spent more than five hours in the line at the Russian Embassy in Berlin, told reporters that she wrote her late husband鈥檚 name on her ballot.
Asked whether she had a message for Putin, Navalnaya replied: 鈥淧lease stop asking for messages from me or from somebody for Mr. Putin. There could be no negotiations and nothing with Mr. Putin, because he鈥檚 a killer, he鈥檚 a gangster.鈥�
Putin referenced for the first time in years at the news conference, declaring that he had been ready to release him in a swap for unidentified inmates in Western custody just days before the opposition leader鈥檚 death.
Supporters of Navalny streamed to his grave in Moscow, some bringing ballots with his name written on them.
The Russian leader brushed off the effectiveness of the apparent protest and rejected Western criticism of the vote. Instead, he tried to turn the tables on the West, charging that the four criminal cases against former President Donald Trump were a use of the judiciary for political aims.
鈥淭he whole world is laughing at it,鈥� he said.
Some people told the AP that they were happy to vote for Putin 鈥� unsurprising in a country where state TV airs a and voicing any other opinion is risky.
Dmitry Sergienko, who cast his ballot in Moscow, said, 鈥淚 am happy with everything and want everything to continue as it is now.鈥�
Voting took place over three days at polling stations across the vast country, in and online.
Several people were arrested, including in Moscow and St. Petersburg, after they tried to start fires or set off explosives at polling stations while a few others were detained for throwing green antiseptic or ink into ballot boxes. Many more were rounded up by police for attempting to protest.
The OVD-Info group that monitors political arrests said that about 90 people were arrested in 22 cities across Russia on Sunday.
Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chair of the Golos independent election watchdog, said Russians were searched when entering polling stations, there were attempts to check filled-out ballots before they were cast, and one report said police demanded a ballot box be opened to remove a ballot.
Huge lines formed around noon outside diplomatic missions in London, Berlin, Paris and other cities with large Russian communities, many of whom left home after Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
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This story has been updated to correct that Putin referred to Navalny by name for the first time in years in his remarks after polls closed.
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Follow AP鈥檚 coverage of Russia鈥檚 election:
Emma Burrows, Dasha Litvinova And Jim Heintz, The Associated Press
