Exit polls indicated that Vladimir Putin was set to secure another six-year term as the President of Russia, positioning him to become the nation’s longest-serving leader in over two centuries.
The 71-year-old’s victory was largely expected, with his major opponents either eliminated through assassination, imprisonment, or exile, and dissent against the Kremlin suppressed.
As voting concluded in Kaliningrad, VTsIOM, a government-affiliated pollster, forecasted Putin’s landslide victory with 87% of the vote.
The election period was marred by intensified violence in Ukraine, incursions by pro-Kyiv sabotage groups into Russian territory, and attacks on polling stations.
The Kremlin framed the election as an opportunity for Russians to endorse a full-scale military intervention in Ukraine, where simultaneous polling was conducted in areas under Russian control.
However, Kyiv and its allies denounced the referendum as fraudulent, with President Volodymyr Zelensky condemning Putin as a “dictator” intoxicated by power, stating on social media, “There is no evil he will not commit to maintain his personal power.”
