Despite protests from Navalny's followers, attacks on areas bordering Ukraine and a drone alert over Moscow's airports, Vladimir Putin completed the electoral marathon that confirmed him as president until 2030 with Bulgarian percentages without any major incidents : 87.29%, the highest result in the history of Russian elections .
For the "tsar" it is the fifth mandate after 24 years spent in power. “I thank the Russians for their complete trust, the country will become stronger and no one will intimidate or crush us ,” he promised the country, speaking for the first time about Alexei Navalny, whose passing was a “sad event” . Speaking about the dissident, he also said that he was ready for an exchange of prisoners with the West, as long as he never returned to Russia.
The other three walk-on candidates were practically annihilated . The communist Nikolai Kharitonov, in second position, stopped at 4.7%, that of Gente Nuova, Vladislav Davankov, at 3.6% and that of the Liberal Democratic Party Leonid Slutsky at 2.5%.
The official data also speak of excellent results in terms of participation: turnout above 77% , compared to 67.5% in 2028. Massive participation, between 80% and 90%, was announced in the four partially Ukrainian regions controlled by Moscow's troops and annexed by Russia in 2022: Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson . Here Putin's victory was, if possible, even clearer. The percentages attributed to him reach up to 95% in Donetsk, 94% in Lugansk, 93% in the Zaporizhzhia region and 88% in the Kherson region.
“The result of the elections shows that Russia is a big family and that there is total confidence among the citizens that we will do everything as planned,” Putin said again, addressing “special words of gratitude” to the soldiers fighting in Ukraine for over two years. “They carry out the most important task which is to protect our people.”
But the most important message the "tsar" sent to the West: « No matter how much they tried to scare us, to suppress our will, our conscience, no one has ever succeeded in history. They have failed now and will fail in the future ." He warned .
