Russian President Vladimir Putin won a record landslide election on March 17, according to early results, as Western officials have criticized the elections as being unfair and illegitimate.
His opponent from the Communist Party, Nikolay Kharitonov, received about 4.7 percent of the vote, New People Party candidate Vladislav Davankov got 3.6 percent, and Liberal Democrats candidate Leonid Slutsky got 2.5 percent of the vote, state media reported.
US and NATO Criticism
The election comes a little more than two years after Russia launched an invasion against Ukraine, called a “special military operation” by the Kremlin.War has hung over the three-day election: Ukraine has repeatedly attacked oil refineries in Russia, shelled Russian regions, and sought to pierce Russian borders with proxy forces—a move that Mr. Putin said would not be left unpunished.
Supporters of Putin’s most prominent opponent, Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison last month, had called on Russians to come out at a “Noon against Putin” protest to show their dissent against the leader. There was no tally of how many of Russia’s 114 million voters took part in the opposition demonstrations, amid extremely tight security involving tens of thousands of police and security officials.
The Biden administration has long been critical of Mr. Putin’s presidency. On March 17, a spokesperson again said the Russian election was unfair after it was predicted that Mr. Putin would win.
“The elections are obviously not free nor fair,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson told news outlets on March 17, adding that political opponents have been imprisoned while others were prevented from running.
But before the election, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia’s elections are fine and that democracy is alive and well in the country.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also criticized the election and said Mr. Putin only wants to “rule forever.” Meanwhile, NATO countries offered similar criticism of the Russian election, citing the war in Ukraine and Mr. Navalny’s death.
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office blasted Russia for having held elections in “Ukrainian territory,” referring to the regions of the Donbas that, in part, sparked the Ukraine–Russia conflict in 2022.
“By illegally holding elections on Ukrainian territory, Russia demonstrates that it is not interested in finding a path to peace. The UK will continue to provide humanitarian, economic, and military aid to Ukrainians defending their democracy,” the UK spokesperson said.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry echoed those claims, saying that the election should not have been held in “occupied territories of Ukraine” and is “another breach of international law.”
Allegations Against US
Amid the election, Mr. Peksov alleged that the United States has been trying to conduct an influence operation against Russia but that Moscow’s security agency was able thwart it. He claimed that Washington launched a clandestine campaign on social media in a bid to influence the election.“One thing I can say is that we have experienced such activities for many years. The United States and the relevant agencies and intelligence services have been doing the same in our country and are still trying to do so,” Mr. Peskov told reporters last week.
“And only decisive actions to protect the domestic political landscape and our society from attempts at such interference have largely minimized the effectiveness of the work of the U.S. special services. However, this does not mean that they are abandoning their attempts.”
Last week, Russia’s foreign intelligence service also accused the United States of trying to meddle in Russia’s presidential election and said that Washington even had plans to launch a cyberattack on the online voting system. No evidence was provided.
The United States last week denied allegations that it is trying to interfere with Russia’s presidential election, with a National Security Council spokesman describing those claims as “nothing more than propaganda.”
For years, U.S. intelligence agencies have similarly accused Russia of attempting to meddle in U.S. elections, culminating in the proliferation of unsubstantiated reports that Moscow colluded with then-candidate Donald Trump to win the presidency in 2016. The former president has denied those claims, while a Justice Department special counsel probe found no evidence corroborating those claims.
