Russian presidential election has brought landslide victory to Vladimir Putin.
Putin who claims he has huge public support for his domestic governance and global influence, is reportedly won about 87% of the vote.
Sunday’s election result was the highest-ever result in Russia’s post-Soviet history.
After the Kremlin released results President Putin made an after-midnight news conference at which he commented on the death of the imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny for the first time, referring to it as an “unfortunate incident.”
Putin considered the victory as vindication of his unwavering stance against the west.
“No matter who or how much they want to intimidate us, no matter who or how much they want to suppress us, our will, our consciousness – no one has ever succeeded in anything like this in history,” Putin said in an address from his campaign headquarters early on Monday morning.
“It has not worked now and will not work in the future. Never.”
However, several western governments swiftly criticized the election dubbing it undemocratic. Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for President Biden’s National Security Council, said “the elections were obviously not free nor fair.”
With the landslide victory, Putin is now set to use his new six-year term to further cement leadership and influence in Russian politics.