Putin secures 5th term as Russian president in election with no real opposition, addresses Navalny death

Russian President Vladimir Putin secured a fifth term in office on Monday, winning an election that featured no real opposition.

Putin walked away with 87% of the vote, according to Russia’s election commission. He celebrated his victory over the smattering of token opposition candidates early on Monday, saying it was proof of the Russian people’s “trust” in him.

“Of course, we have lots of tasks ahead. But I want to make it clear for everyone: When we were consolidated, no one has ever managed to frighten us, to suppress our will and our self-conscience. They failed in the past and they will fail in the future,” Putin said after polls closed.

Putin’s regime has been widely successful in stomping out opposition voices amid its invasion of Ukraine. Alexei Navalny, the activist widely seen as the most credible opponent to Putin, died in a Russian prison last month.

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Putin, 71, has already lead Russia for nearly 25 years, and now he has secured another 6-year term.

Russia’s election commission reported that Putin won over 76 million votes, setting a new record.

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The win was widely met with disdain in the West, if it was acknowledged at all. President Biden has yet to make a comment on the election.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron dismissed Putin in a statement on X.

“This is not what free and fair elections look like,” he wrote.

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There were some protesters outside polling stations and Russian embassies across the globe on Sunday, the final day of the election. Allies of Navalny and his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, called for the gatherings. Yulia said she wrote in her late husband’s name on the ballot she cast via the Russian embassy in Berlin.

Putin commented on Navalny’s death for the first time on Monday, saying he had supported a plan to release him in a prisoner exchange that was to take place just days after he died.

“It happens. There is nothing you can do about it. It’s life,” he said.

In comments following his victory, Putin attempted to turn the conversation toward U.S. election issues. He decried the criminal cases stacked up against former President Trump, saying “the whole world is laughing” at the U.S.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.