THE world’s despots rushed to praise Vladimir Putin’s landslide victory in Russia’s sham elections after the tyrant took 87 per cent of the vote.
The ageing ruler, 71, now dubbed the “modern-day Stalin”, has brutally secured his near quarter-of-a-century rule over Russia until at least 2030.
Putin cruised to an easy victory as he was re-elected with a record 87.33 per cent of the vote after facing token challengers and suppressing opposition voters.
Last night, the brazen ruler gave a “victory speech” – thanking Russians for their “trust” and “support” and once again threatening the West with World War 3.
“No one can suppress us, they will never succeed,” he vowed, while adding that “all our goals will be achieved”.
Despite Putin’s route to the top of the polls being never in doubt, the despot’s friends abroad are busy piling on the congratulations.
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Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi was among the first to toast Vlad – the longest-serving Russian dictator since Soviet leader Joseph Stalin – on his “decisive” win in the election.
Chinese President Xi Jinping also sent a congratulatory message to Putin, stating that his re-election “fully reflects the support of the Russian people”.
Beijing’s foreign ministry also hailed the “continuous development of China-Russia relations in the new era”.
Close Putin ally Kim Jong-un – who has provided Putin with vast supplies of munitions for the war in Ukraine – sent “congratulations” to Putin via his embassy in Russia this morning.
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Putin is simply sick for power and is doing everything to rule forever
Volodymyr Zelensky
Earlier, Putin was congratulated by both the authoritarian ruler of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla.
The presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia, Nicolás Maduro and Luis Arce, joined the small repressive group hailing Putin’s overwhelming victory.
So did former Soviet states – with close ongoing relationships with Moscow – Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Putin’s supporters appeared unbothered by the lack of real opposition candidates – all the serious challengers were wiped out before voting began – and the deep flaws in the polling process.
Anyone who could have challenged him has either been imprisoned, exiled or killed amid the harshest crackdown on opposition in Russia since Soviet times.
Beyond the fact that voters had virtually no choice, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited.
The process also involved an electronic voting system easily open to abuse that brought in eight million votes of Putin’s votes.
There has been either silence or condemnation from the West, whose leaders have sent lukewarm congratulations to Putin for his past victories.
But this time around, the polls were criticised by several Western nations as neither free nor fair.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron blasted the exit poll results last night, stating: “This is not what free and fair elections look like.”
UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps accused Vladimir Putin of behaving like “a modern-day Stalin”, The Telegraph reports.
He slammed Putin for having his opponents such as opposition leader Alexei Navalny “imprisoned or murdered” before the vote began.
In a similar criticism, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Putin of attempting to rule “forever”.
He fumed: “It is clear to everyone in the world that this figure, as it has already often happened in the course of history, is simply sick for power and is doing everything to rule forever.
“There is no legitimacy in this imitation of elections and there cannot be.”
The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also branded the elections false. “This election has been based on repression and intimidation,” he said.
A White House spokesman also declared last night: “The elections are obviously not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him.”
Putin’s former speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov said “no one will believe” the “crazy” share of the vote declared for the dictator.
It was clear the vote was rigged, he said. “There is no need to prove anything, it is now an axiom.
“Just compare the official result with yesterday’s pictures of anti-Putin queues at polling stations, with a huge mass of photos of invalid ballots – and everything becomes clear to you.
“Putin preferred to convince critics that he was strong than supporters that he was honest,” he said.
“This is the same logic as in the case of the murder of Navalny and repressions in general…”
Referring to the infamous and bloodthirsty Roman Emperor Caligula, Gallyamov said it was “the logic of Caligula… Let them not love you, as long as they are afraid.”
He continued: “The only problem is that the Russian president can demonstrate his strength exclusively on his own – unarmed – citizens.
“And he broke his teeth on Ukrainians. So he’s not very strong either.”
Among the fantastical statistics was the claim of a turnout of 99.8 per cent, including Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.
The latest backing for Putin in Chechnya was given an incredible 98.9 per cent of the vote.
At the same time, exit polls and some results showed that Russian voters abroad – not confronted by repression from the authorities – backed candidate Vladislav Davankov ahead of Putin.
Actual results of Russians voting in Belgrade found Davankov scored more than six times as many votes as Putin – 67 per cent to Putin’s measly 10 per cent.
In Prague, Davankov scored 60 per cent and Putin only 16 per cent.
Even with little margin for protest, over 75 citizens were arrested as Russians crowded outside polling stations at noon on Sunday to show their dissatisfaction with the shameful elections.
They were responding to calls made by Alexei Navalny before his death last month as he asked Russians to show up to spoil their ballots or vote for another candidate.
His wife Yulia echoed his calls for the brave “noon against Putin” protests, joining throngs of protestors in Berlin herself and writing her dead husband’s name on the ballot.
Across the weekend, Putin was enraged to see some brave Russians destroying ballots with ink and even throwing petrol bombs at voting booths.
In Russian embassies across the world where Putin’s 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” and “This is not an election”.
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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.
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Iona Cleave
