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8 months ago
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VLADIMIR Putin has inevitably secured another term as Russian leader after tearing up a constitution limiting his stay at the Kremlin.
The ageing dictator, 71, will now be in power until at least 2030 after masterminding a sham election to give himself his biggest-ever landslide victory.
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Thousands queued to spoil ballots or vote for another candidate at 12pm today in Russia as a form of protest (pictured: St Petersburg)
AFP
Thousands all over the world protested Putin’s false election – banners in Georgia read ‘Enough Putin, Lies, War, Repression’
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AP
AFPEarly official results of the vote reveal Putin bagged 87.97 per cent of the vote.
After more than two brutal decades of his iron-fist rule, anyone who could have challenged him is either in prison, in exile or dead amid the harshest crackdown on opposition in Russia since Soviet times.
Ballot papers therefore lacked any genuine competition – and Putin‘s route to the top of the polls was never in doubt
Just three token candidates were allowed to stand against the dictator – and no one who opposes his brutal war.
Brazen Putin is now heading into his fifth term at the country’s helm with little resistance as he continues to shamelessly stamp out opposition.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately hit out at Putin’s re-election, branding the vote an “illegitimate imitation”.
The war-time leader the tyrant was “simulating another election” and that he was “sick for power and is doing everything to rule forever”.
Zelensky added: “There is no legitimacy in this imitation of elections and there cannot be.
“This person should be on trial in The Hague. That’s what we have to ensure.”
Putin’s victory was declared just hours after the polls closed based on early vote returns, with official results due to be posted in a few days after all papers are counted.
More than 114 million people are eligible to vote, and reports say the turnout was 73 per cent.
Russia’s constitution states presidents can serve no more than two consecutive six-year terms.
But in 2020, power-hungry Vlad orchestrated an amendment exempting himself from presidential term limits until 2036 – by which time he’ll be 83.
For the first time, polling stations were open for three days instead of one and online voting was an option in 27 Russian regions and Crimea, which was illegally seized by Putin a decade ago.
Brazen Putin also opened up voting in annexed Ukrainian regions Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – despite Russian forces not fully controlling them.
In the occupied Donetsk, where the election is illegal, he won 95.23 per cent of the vote, while he picked up 95 per cent of ballots in Luhansk.
Putin will argue the result of the rigged election is a vote of confidence from Russians in his bloody war against Ukraine.
Experts said tactics such as extending the vote over several days and allowing online balloting added to the lack of transparency.
Opposition groups previously said digital voting in parliamentary elections showed signs of manipulation.
Helped by more than 8 million votes placed online Putin’s victory margin surpassed his highest in four previous elections.
Over the weekend Putin was enraged to see Russians protesting at polling stations by destroying ballots and even throwing petrol bombs at boots.
One woman was reportedly arrested in Moscow for pouring litres of paint into a ballot box.
Russian media even said “a criminal case” had been opened against her.
More footage showed a woman slip her ballot into a box before pouring green liquid over the completed forms inside.
Around 50 citizens were arrested just on Sunday, and the Kremlin warned that any kind of gathering at voting hubs would be illegal.
Before his death last month, Alexei Navalny had called for a “Noon Against Putin” demonstration at polling stations across Russia.
His hope was that Russians would show up nationwide at midday and spoil their ballots, or vote for another candidate, drawing attention to widespread discontent.
His wife Yulia echoed his calls for the brave movement, joining throngs of protestors in Berlin herself to do the same thing at Germany’s Russian embassy today.
As she took to the streets many cheered, she paused to take pictures with the crowds and teared up as she queued to vote.
In Russian embassies across the world, where Putin’s iron rule is weaker, people were able to rise up even more defiantly when going to vote.
They turned out in huge numbers and some brandished banners reading messages like “He is not a president & this is not an election”.
A blood-red sign in Georgia read: “Enough Putin. Lies, War, Repressions.”
And a huge effigy in Berlin showed the despot in a bathtub, painted in Ukrainian colours, washing himself with blood.
Millions of eyes in Russia – and around the world – will now turn to Putin’s plan for his next term, with an immediate goal to seize victory in Ukraine.
Deluded Putin thought he’d be able to sweep into the country and capture Kyiv in just three days – but more than two years on his invasion is stalling.
And despite boasting of Russian battlefield successes in the run-up to the election, Ukraine’s barrage of drone attacks across Russia this week has been its biggest yet.
But experts fear if Putin – the longest-serving Russian dictator since Soviet leader Josef Stalin – does see success in Ukraine, bloodshed could spill into Europe.
Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said he could be eyeing up an attack on Europe.
He told The Sun: “I think he is doing all he can at the moment [in Ukraine].
“He is throwing everything into the ‘meat grinder’ hoping to outlast Western support, which is likely to wain at the end of the year.
“If Putin succeeds in Ukraine he will go to war with the West.
“He will attack Latvia and Lithuania first – and they are both Nato.”
In a speech just two weeks before his all but certain re-election, Putin warned the West is in danger of being nuked.
In his more than two-hour-long diatribe, sniffling Putin accused the West of trying to “destroy” Russia as he vowed to fulfil Moscow’s goals in Ukraine.
50 Russians were arrested today after protesting, pictured: one woman ruins ballots with ink
Yulia Navalny wipes away tears at powerful protests by the Russian embassy in Berlin
ReutersSpeaking before an audience of lawmakers and top officials, he also lashed out at the US, claiming it is trying to defeat Russia and “drag us into an arms race”.
He insisted that western Russia must be “properly protected” after Nato welcomed Sweden and Finland into the military alliance.
The rambling tyrant claimed Nato forces are “preparing to strike out territory”.
But he insisted in his venom-filled speech the consequences for “potential invaders” would be “much more tragic”.
In a thinly veiled threat, Putin warned the West was in “danger of nuclear conflict” if they sent troops to Ukraine.
Mr de Bretton-Gordon believes Putin’s sabre-rattling is nothing more than empty threats when it comes to nuclear warfare.
He said: “Putin will never go for Armageddon as that would be the end of his dream for a greater Russia.
“He is massive on legacy, hence he doesn’t want to destroy the planet.
“But he is a master strategist when it comes to manipulating the West’s weaker leaders.
“He is bluffing on nukes and the sooner we realise this, the better.”
AP
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AP
EPA
A woman spoiling ballots on Saturday with ink in protest
Someone setting a fire at a polling station on Saturday
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