MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin clinched a record post-Soviet landslide win in Russia’s election on March 17, cementing his already tight grip on power in a victory he said showed Moscow had been right to stand up to the West and send its troops into Ukraine.

Mr Putin, a former KGB lieutenant-colonel who rose to power in 1999, made it clear that the result should send a message to the West that its leaders would have to reckon with an emboldened Russia – whether in war or peace – for many more years to come.

He won a fifth term in the Kremlin with 87.28 per cent of the vote, Russia’s electoral commission said on March 18.

The result, which did not include votes from abroad, showed that the three other candidates who ran – but had not openly challenged Mr Putin – won 4.31, 3.85 and 3.2 per cent of the vote.

The outcome means Mr Putin, 71, is set to embark on a new six-year term that will see him overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia’s longest-serving leader in more than 200 years if he completes it.

Germany, Britain, the United States and other nations said the vote was neither free nor fair due to the imprisonment of political opponents and censorship.

China, North Korea and Iran, however, congratulated Mr Putin on his win, with Beijing saying it was set to maintain close communication with Russia to promote their partnership.

“China attaches great importance to the development of China-Russia relations and stands ready to maintain close communication with Russia to promote the sustained, healthy, stable and in-depth development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said, according to Xinhua News.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang would work together with Mr Putin to further develop bilateral relations.

“I will firmly join hands with you as we meet the demands of the times to provide a new turning point for the Russian-DPRK (North Korea) friendship that has long historical roots and traditions, and push forward to build a strong nation,” KCNA reported Mr Kim as saying.

Communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov finished second with just over 4 per cent of the vote, newcomer Vladislav Davankov was third, and ultra-nationalist Leonid Slutsky was fourth, partial results suggested.

Mr Putin told supporters in a victory speech in Moscow that he would prioritise resolving tasks associated with what he called Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine and would strengthen the Russian military.

“We have many tasks ahead. But when we are consolidated – no matter who wants to intimidate us, suppress us – nobody has ever succeeded in history, they have not succeeded now, and they will not succeed ever in the future,” he said.

Supporters chanted “Putin, Putin, Putin” when he appeared on stage, and “Russia, Russia, Russia” after he delivered his acceptance speech.

Inspired by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison in February, thousands of opponents protested at noon against Mr Putin at polling stations inside Russia and abroad.

Mr Putin told reporters he regarded Russia’s election as democratic and said the Navalny-inspired protest against him had no effect on the election’s outcome.

In his first comments on Navalny’s death, Mr Putin said it had been a “sad event” and confirmed he had been ready to do a prisoner swop involving the opposition politician.

When asked by US TV network NBC whether his re-election was democratic, Mr Putin criticised the US political and judicial systems.

“The whole world is laughing at what is happening (in the US),” he said. “This is just a disaster, not a democracy.

“Is it democratic to use administrative resources to attack one of the candidates for the presidency of the United States, using the judiciary among other things?” Mr Putin asked, making an apparent reference to four criminal cases against Republican candidate Donald Trump.

The Russian election comes just over two years since Mr Putin triggered the deadliest European conflict since World War II by ordering the invasion of Ukraine.

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 Mr Putin said would not be left unpunished.

He said Russia might need to create a buffer zone inside Ukraine to prevent such attacks in future.

While Mr Putin’s re-election was not in doubt, given his control over Russia and the absence of any real challengers, the former KGB spy wanted to show he had the overwhelming support of Russians.

Nationwide turnout was at 74.22 per cent when polls closed, election officials said, surpassing the 2018 level of 67.5 per cent.

There was no independent tally of how many of Russia’s 114 million voters took part in the opposition demonstrations, amid tight security involving tens of thousands of police and security officials.

Reuters journalists saw an increase in the flow of voters, especially younger people, at noon at polling stations in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, with queues of several hundred people and even thousands.

Some said they were protesting, though there were few outward signs to distinguish them from ordinary voters.

At least 74 people were arrested on March 17 across Russia, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors crackdowns on dissent.

Over the previous two days, there were scattered incidents of protest as some Russians set fire to voting booths or poured green dye into ballot boxes. Opponents posted some pictures of ballots spoiled with slogans insulting Mr Putin.

But Navalny’s death has left the opposition deprived of its most formidable leader, and other major opposition figures are abroad, in jail or dead.

The West casts Mr Putin as an autocrat and a killer.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 17 that Mr Putin wanted to rule forever and that the vote had been illegitimate.

Mr Putin portrays the war as part of a centuries-old battle with a declining West that he says humiliated Russia after the Cold War by encroaching on Moscow’s sphere of influence.

Russia’s election comes at what Western spy chiefs say is a crossroads for the Ukraine war and the wider West. Support for Ukraine is tangled in US domestic politics ahead of the November presidential election.

Though Kyiv recaptured territory after the invasion in 2022, Russian forces have made gains after a failed Ukrainian counter-offensive in 2023. REUTERS