After securing another term, Putin says Russia is aiming at establishing a buffer zone in Ukraine
With nearly 100% of precincts counted, the Russian President got 87% of the vote, says CEC; Putin says the results are an indication of the people’s ‘trust’ and ‘hope’ in him; Germany slams the election process; China’s Xi congratulates Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin said after extending his rule on Monday, in an election that stifled Opposition, that Moscow will not relent in its invasion of Ukraine and plans to create a buffer zone to help protect against longrange Ukrainian strikes and crossborder raids.
The Kremlin’s forces have made battlefield progress as Kyiv’s troops struggle with a severe shortage of artillery shells and exhausted frontline units after more than two years of war. The frontline stretches over 1,000 km across Ukraine.
Advances have been slow and costly, and Ukraine has increasingly used its longrange firepower to hit oil refineries and depots deep inside Russia.
“We will be forced at some point, when we consider it necessary, to create a certain ‘sanitary zone’ on the territories controlled by the (Ukrainian government),” Mr. Putin said .
‘Difficult to penetrate’
This “security zone,” Mr. Putin said, “would be quite difficult to penetrate using the foreignmade strike assets at the enemy’s disposal.” He spoke after the release of election returns that showed him securing a fifth sixyear term in a landslide.
Monday marks the 10th anniversary of Russia’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula, which set the stage for Russia to invade its neighbour in February 2022.
Mr. Putin also warned the West against deploying troops to Ukraine. A possible conflict between Russia and NATO would put the world “a step away” from another world war, he said. Commenting on the prospects for peace talks with Kyiv, Mr. Putin reaffirmed that Russia remains open to negotiations but won’t be lured into a truce that will allow Ukraine to rearm.
Door shut on talks
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has apparently shut the door on such talks, saying Mr. Putin should be brought to trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which last year issued an arrest warrant for Putin on war crime charges.
President Vladimir Putin sealed his control over Russia for six more years on Monday with a landslide in an election that followed the harshest crackdown on the Opposition and free speech since Soviet times.
With nearly all the precincts counted on Monday, election officials said Mr. Putin had secured a record number of votes.
Mr. Putin has led Russia as President or Prime Minister since December 1999, a tenure marked by international military aggression and an increasing intolerance for dissent. At the end of his fifth term,
Mr. Putin would be the longestserving Russian leader since Catherine the Great, who ruled during the 18th century.
As early results came in,
Mr. Putin hailed them as an indication of “trust” and “hope” in him.
“Of course, we have lots of tasks ahead. But I want to make it clear for everyone: when we were consolidated, no one has ever managed to frighten us, to suppress our will and our selfconscience. They failed in the past and they will fail in the future,” he said at a meeting with his campaign staff after polls closed.
Russia’s Central Election Commission said on Monday that with nearly 100% of precincts counted, Mr. Putin got 87% of the vote. Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said nearly 76 million voters cast their ballots for Mr. Putin, his highest vote tally ever.
Western leaders denounced the election as a sham, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy particularly criticised voting in Ukrainian areas that Russia has illegally annexed, saying “everything Russia does on the occupied territory of Ukraine is a crime”.
Germany sharply criticised the vote with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokeswoman, Christina Hoffmann, saying that “in our opinion, it was not a democratic election.”
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jongun quickly congratulated Mr. Putin, along with some Central and South American leaders and presidents of nations that have historic and close current ties to Russia.