International

Vladimir Putin thanks Russians for voting in Russia's presidential election

Russians crowded outside polling stations at noon Sunday on the last day of a presidential election, apparently heeding an opposition call to protest against President Vladimir Putin in a vote that offered them no real alternatives after he ruthlessly cracked down on dissent, AP reports.

The extraordinary early results — which Putin hailed as an indication of “trust” and “hope” in him — were another reflection of the preordained nature of the election. The Russian leader only faced competition from three token rivals and any public criticism of him or his war in Ukraine was stifled.

“I want to thank all of you and all citizens of the country for your support and this trust,” Putin said early Monday morning in a press conference at his campaign headquarters in Moscow. “I want to thank the citizens of Russia… who came to the polling stations and voted,” he said, expressing “special words of gratitude to our soldiers… who fulfill the most important task of protecting our people.”

Putin’s fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile. Beyond the fact that voters had virtually no choice, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited.

Voting took place over three days at polling stations across the vast country’s 11 time zones, in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine, and online. While polls closed Sunday night in Russia, voting continued at some embassies around the world.

Despite tight controls, several dozen cases of vandalism at polling stations were reported across the voting period.

Ionela Golban

Ionela Golban

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