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British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has denounced the election in Russia which saw President Vladimir Putin tighten his grip on power following the stifling of any real opposition.
The foreign secretary said “this is not what free and fair elections look like” after early results on Sunday showed the Russian president won nearly 88% of the vote.
The result, recorded by Russia’s Central Election Commission, would be a record for Putin, extending his nearly quarter-of-a-century rule for another six-year term.
Putin faced competition from only three candidates who had not criticised his rule nor his invasion of Ukraine.
All serious challengers were wiped out before voting began.
Arch foe Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile.
Meanwhile, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited, with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) not invited to observe the three-day vote.
Cameron tweeted: “The polls have closed in Russia, following the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, a lack of choice for voters and no independent OSCE monitoring.”
“This is not what free and fair elections look like.”
Earlier on Sunday, before the exit poll, Cabinet minister Mark Harper also said Russia’s elections were neither free nor fair.
He told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “I don’t think people have any illusion about whether they’re free or fair, and it’s particularly reprehensible that they’re trying to conduct those elections in parts of Ukraine, which is the sovereign state which Vladimir Putin has invaded.”
Asked whether the UK would recognise Putin’s regime, the Transport Secretary said: “We of course have diplomatic relations with Russia, but we make our position to them very clear about their invasion of Ukraine.”
Lord Robertson, a former secretary-general of NATO, said the West should not be intimidated by Putin.
“I think that Putin is likely to double down again, he’ll claim this as a boost for himself and an endorsement for the military action he has taken,” he told the BBC’s The Westminster Hour.
He said while western nations get “spooked” by Putin’s threat of using nuclear weapons, “we should not be intimidated by nuclear blackmail” because “he knows that we have got means of retaliating.”
Russian nationals living in the UK took to polling stations on Sunday to spoil presidential election ballots in protest against Putin.
The Russian Democratic Society – described as a community of Russian immigrants in the UK – organised a Noon Against Putin demonstration outside the Russian embassy in London.
It came as associates of Navalny urged people across Russia to protest by crowding near polling stations at noon on Sunday.
Putin to reshuffle senior gov’t roles after election victory
Russia’s elite expects President Vladimir Putin to reshuffle senior government roles after his election victory, according to reports.
Sources close to the authorities said they expected younger people to be brought in, including perhaps as deputy ministers and heads of ministerial departments.
The older generation of government officials are expected to be demoted or retire after the election.
Putin has not made major changes to the government since 2020.
Changes at major state corporations, state energy behemoths and in Russia’s more than 80 regional governorships are also seen as possible.
Top officials likely to retain their posts due to the ongoing Ukraine war are Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Technocratic prime minister Mikhail Mishustin and Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina are also expected to keep their jobs.