Russia's Putin declared winner in vote with no credible opposition

HELSINKI ? Vladimir Putin won his fifth term as Russia's president with a record number of votes, Russia's Central Election Commission said Monday, confirming exit polls that showed the country's longest-serving leader since Josef Stalin won by a landslide in an election in which he faced no credible opposition and cracked down on free speech.

With nearly 100% of all precincts counted, Putin received 87.29% of the vote, Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said. She said nearly 76 million voters cast their ballots for Putin, his highest vote tally ever.

Putin hailed the results as a clear indication of Russia's "trust" and "hope" in him. But his many critics saw them as another illustration of the preordained nature of the election. Criticism of Putin or his war in Ukraine has been criminalized. Independent media outlets have been closed down. Putin's fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month. Other Putin opponents are either in jail or in exile.

Russia's election: Putin hails big win as a sign of 'trust' in him

Germany called the vote a "pseudo-election," and Washington described it "neither free nor fair." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Putin was "sick with power and is doing everything in his power to rule forever." British Foreign Secretary David Cameron wrote on X: "This is not what free and fair elections look like."

"The elections took place in an ever-shrinking political space, which has resulted in an alarming increase of violations of civil and political rights, and precluded many candidates from running, including all those opposed to Russia’s illegal war of aggression, deprived Russian voters of a real choice and heavily limited their access to accurate information," said Josep Borrell, the European Union's top foreign policy official.

Russian presidential election: Vladimir Putin cements longest reign since Stalin

There were also congratulations sent from some of Russia's allies, including Cuba, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the presidents of Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela, as well as the leaders of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

In a news conference Sunday, Putin said he would press on with his invasion of Ukraine. He also claimed Russia's democracy was more legitimate than the system in the United States, where he said you can "buy a vote for $10."

Callum Fraser, a Russia researcher at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London, said a "significant part of Russian society is not content with Putin or the current state of the country." He estimated Putin's share of the domestic Russian vote at about 55% and said there were "isolated" acts of protest during the vote, but the largest demonstrations against Putin's rule took place outside Russia because of harsh crackdowns inside it.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Putin wins Russia presidential vote, Central Election Commission says