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STORY: President Vladimir Putin gained a report post-Soviet landslide victory in Russia’s election on Sunday…
“This unity will permit us to behave successfully on the frontline, within the financial system, humanitarian growth, reaching the objectives of social growth tasks,” he mentioned….
though the win got here with indicators of dissent and criticism from the U.S. that it was neither free nor honest.
The chair of the central election fee in Moscow mentioned Putin gained a report 88% of the vote.
With a brand new six-year time period cementing his grip on energy, the previous KGB officer is about to develop into overtake Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin as Russia’s longest-serving chief in additional than 200 years.
There was by no means any actual doubt about his victory, given Putin’s brutal crackdown on political dissent.
However there have been indicators of discord.
Supporters of Putin’s most distinguished opponent Alexei Navalny — who died in an Arctic jail final month — referred to as on Russians to come back out at a “Midday in opposition to Putin” protest to point out their dissent.
Reuters journalists noticed an inflow of voters in at the moment in some locations, though it was troublesome to inform them other than unusual voters.
Russian residents overseas additionally flocked to international polling stations.
In Berlin, Navalny’s widow, Yulia, was met with cheers.
She mentioned she wrote her late husband’s identify on her poll.
And at Navalny’s gravesite in Moscow, dozens forged a symbolic vote for the late opposition chief.
In earlier days, there had additionally been scattered incidents of protest, as some Russians set fireplace to voting cubicles or poured dye into poll packing containers.
Dozens of individuals throughout the nation had been arrested on Sunday, in line with OVD-Data, a bunch that displays crackdowns on dissent.
The election comes simply over two years since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s deadliest battle since World Conflict Two.
He casts it as a “particular army operation.”
In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy mentioned there was “not a single little bit of legitimacy” in what he referred to as “this simulation of an election.”
The battle hung over the three-day vote with Ukraine attacking oil refineries, shelling Russian areas and in search of to pierce its borders with proxy forces.
Putin mentioned these assaults wouldn’t go unpunished.
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