(StraightNews.org) – Russian leader Vladimir Putin has won Russia’s Presidential election with a convincing 88% of the vote. Putin’s 25-year leadership will now extend by six years, but Western leaders have denounced the election as a sham. A vote-monitoring group inside Russia agreed and called it the most corrupt election in the nation’s history. Voters lined up at polling stations refused to give reporters their names for fear of reprisal, while some said they hoped for change, but this was “unlikely.”
The UK’s Defense Secretary Grant Shapps described Mr. Putin as a “modern-day Stalin,” while Sir Andrew Wood said the comparison was an insult to Stalin. Mr. Wood added that the election wasn’t real because there was only one candidate and a “good deal of force” was used to ensure people “signed up for him.”
Thousands of people protested worldwide against Putin’s re-election, with some people stating that their “real” President is Alexei Navalny. Mr. Navalny was Putin’s primary opposition leader until he died in a Russian prison in February.
A statement from the White House said the election was “obviously not free and fair,” while European Union leaders condemned the fact that polls were held in occupied regions of Ukraine, which Russia captured during the war.
Similarly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the result as “illegitimate” and said Putin is “sick for power.”
Meanwhile, however, global geopolitical lines were clearly drawn as China, North Korea, and India congratulated President Putin on his victory, with India promising closer relations. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he looked forward to strengthening ties with the Kremlin and the two nations’ “time-tested special and privileged strategic partnership.”
Putin is the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin. He served as a foreign intelligence agent with the KGB for 16 years and began his political career in 1991. Five years later, he joined the government of then-President Boris Yeltsin, whose resignation elevated him to acting President before he was elected to the role in 1999.
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