World leaders from different continents have trooped to congratulate incumbent Russian Federation president Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin for winning his re-election for the 5th term in office.
Results posted on Sunday showed that Putin won a record post-Soviet landslide in Russia’s presidential election, garnering 87.8 percent of the vote.
Russia’s allies first swiftly congratulated Mr. Putin with China and Iran taking the lead.
READ ALSO: Russia’s President Putin Meets China’s Xi in Beijing
PEOPLE’s REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Beijing congratulated Putin, saying “China and Russia are each other’s largest neighbors and comprehensive strategic cooperative partners in the new era”.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said President Xi Jinping and Putin “will continue to maintain close exchanges, lead the two countries to continue to uphold longstanding good-neighborly friendship, deepen comprehensive strategic coordination”.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA.
Pro-Russian President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik said: “The Serb people welcomed with joy the victory of President Putin for they see in him a great statesman and a friend on whom we can always count and who will watch over our people”.
BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said: “Our older brother has triumphed, which bodes well for the world.”
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
President Ebrahim Raisi congratulated his Russian counterpart on his “decisive” win, state media reported.
“The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran in a message sincerely congratulated Vladimir Putin on his decisive victory and re-election as the President of the Russian Federation,” state news agency IRNA reported.
READ ALSO: BREAKING: Putin on The Verge of Winning Re-election as Russian President.
Meanwhile, the United States of America and Western countries criticized the former Soviet Union saying the election was neither free nor fair.
They both alleged that the opposition was allegedly intimidated while some were barred from running.
UKRAINE
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the result as illegitimate. “Everyone in the world understands that this person, like many others throughout history, has become sick with power and will stop at nothing to rule forever,” he said.
“There is no evil he would not do to maintain his power. And no one in the world would have been safeguarded from this.”
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
“The elections are not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him,” said a White House Security Council spokesman.
EUROPEAN UNION
EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell insisted that the election had not been “free and fair” with neither genuine opposition crushed nor international observers present.
“This election has been based on repression and intimidation,” Borrell said.
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
The German foreign ministry said in a social media post that “the pseudo-election in Russia is neither free nor fair, the result will surprise nobody. Putin’s rule is authoritarian, he relies on censorship, repression & violence. The “election” in the occupied territories of Ukraine are null and void and another breach of international law.”
UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN
Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the “illegal” elections featured “a lack of choice for voters and no independent OSCE monitoring,” adding: “This is not what free and fair elections look like.”
SOURCE: ALJAZEERA.