Putin wins fourth term, opponents say vote rigged
AFP / Kirill KUDRYAVTSEVPutin recorded his best ever election performance with over 76 percent of the vote
Vladimir Putin on Monday faced another six years in power after a record win in Russia's presidential election, but congratulations from abroad were largely muted after opponents accused him of rigging the vote and Moscow's relations with the West worsened.
Putin, who has ruled Russia for almost two decades, recorded his best ever election performance with 76.66 percent of the vote but rejected the possibility of staying in power indefinitely.
Opposition and independent monitors reported ballot stuffing and other cases of alleged fraud as the Kremlin pushed for a high turnout to give greater legitimacy to Putin's historic fourth term.
But Putin's supporters said Western pressure on Putin including Britain's accusations in a spy row and the Olympic doping ban prompted Russians to close ranks behind their leader.
- Longest rule since Stalin -
AFP / Kirill KUDRYAVTSEVPresident Vladimir Putin said his victory reflected the 'confidence and hope' of Russians
Putin, who is now set to extend his rule until at least 2024 and is already Russia's longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin, appeared to rule out remaining president for life.
"What, am I going to sit here until I am 100 years old? No," he told reporters Sunday night when asked if he saw himself running for president again in 2030.
The Russian strongman ran against seven candidates, but his most vocal opponent Alexei Navalny was barred from the ballot for legal reasons and the final outcome was never in doubt.
"I see in this (result) the confidence and hope of our people," a beaming Putin told supporters on a square next to the Kremlin Sunday night.
- 'United in trying hour' -
AFP / Mladen ANTONOVPutin's campaign said voter turnout was more than 67 percent, but opponents alleged irregularities
Putin's campaign spokesman Andrei Kondrashov said that at more than 67 percent, turnout was 8 to 10 percentage points higher than expected "thanks to Britain."
"Several foreign leaders -- I won't say their names -- made their contribution," said head of the Central Election Commission Ella Pamfilova.
"Our people always unite in the trying hour."
Putin received more than 92 percent of the vote in Crimea, annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Most of the voters AFP spoke to said they had backed Putin despite Russia's problems of poverty and poor healthcare, praising his foreign policies.
Moscow faces increasing global isolation over its interventions in Ukraine and in Syria, and a fresh round of US sanctions over alleged Russian election meddling in 2016.
AFP / Alexander NEMENOVElection Commission head Ella Pamfilova said foreign leaders "made their contribution" to Putin's re-election by prompting Russians to rally behind him
In the run up to the vote, a new crisis broke out with the West as Britain implicated Putin in the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal in England with a Soviet-designed nerve agent.
- 'Played like guitars' -
Authorities used both the carrot and the stick to boost engagement in the polls.
Selfie competitions, giveaways, food festivals and children's entertainers were laid on at polling stations to entice voters.
But employees of state and private companies, as well as students, reported coming under pressure to vote.
AFP / Vincent LEFAIPutin is a former KGB officer
During campaigning, Putin, a 65-year-old former KGB officer, stressed Russia's role as a major world power, boasting of its "invincible" new nuclear weapons.
Analysts said Putin used tensions with the West to rally support and suggested that armed with a strong new mandate, he could push through further punitive measures against dissenters.
"He wants to show that there is a little bit of Putin in every Russian, that he plays the Russian soul like a guitar," said political analyst Konstantin Kalachev.
- 'Thinking about emigrating?' -
Navalny said his team planned to stage protests over "unprecedented violations" but released few details.
He had called on his supporters to boycott the "fake" vote and sent more than 33,000 observers across the country to see how official turnout figures differed from those of monitors.
AFP / Maxim ZMEYEVOpposition leader Alexei Navalny has claimed widespread vote fraud
Navalny's movement and the non-governmental election monitor Golos reported ballot stuffing, repeat voting and Putin supporters being bussed into polling stations en masse.
The electoral commission dismissed most concerns, saying there were no serious violations.
Runner-up Pavel Grudinin said the elections had been "dishonest."
The mood was grim among liberal Russians, with a journalist for Kommersant FM radio, Stanislav Kucher, saying: "Have you been thinking about emigrating for a long time? This really is the ideal moment."
AFP / Vincent LEFAIVote results showed Putin won a record 76.66 percent
Putin polled well ahead of his nearest competitor, Communist Party candidate Grudinin, who was on 11.8 percent, according to central election commission data with 99.84 percent of ballots counted.
Ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky took 5.66 percent, former reality TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak was on 1.67 percent, while veteran liberal politician Grigory Yavlinsky received just over one percent of the vote.
- 'Difficult partner' -
AFP / Odd ANDERSENGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said she would congratulate Putin but also broach "challenges"
Western leaders were slow to publicly congratulate Putin.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters that Merkel would congratulate Putin but would also broach "challenges" in their relations.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas earlier said Russia would remain a "difficult partner."
Among the leaders who have congratulated Putin so far were Iran's Hassan Rouhani, the presidents of the leftist regimes in Venezuela and Bolivia and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
EU supports UK as Russia hits back in spy poisoning row
AFP / JOHN THYSThe EU backed Britain in the row with Russia as British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson arrived in Brussels
The European Union offered "unqualified solidarity" with Britain on Monday over a nerve agent attack blamed on Russia, as international weapons experts visited to take a sample of the chemical for testing.
In a joint statement, EU foreign ministers said they took "extremely seriously" Britain's claim that Moscow was behind the attack on a former Russian double agent in the English city of Salisbury.
"The European Union expresses its unqualified solidarity with the UK and its support, including for the UK's efforts to bring those responsible for this crime to justice," they said.
The affair has plunged relations between London and Moscow into crisis.
POOL/AFP / Sergei CHIRIKOVRussia's President Vladimir Putin called Britain's allegations about the poisoning of the ex-spy "complete drivel"
President Vladimir Putin has dismissed the claim of Russian state action as "complete drivel, rubbish, nonsense".
On Monday, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned Britain to prove Russia's involvement or apologise.
"Sooner or later these unsubstantiated allegations will have to be answered for: either backed up with the appropriate evidence or apologised for," he said.
Sergei Skripal, a former Russian officer who sold secrets to Britain and moved there in a 2010 spy swap, remains in critical condition along with his daughter, Yulia, after they were found unconscious on a park bench on March 4.
Investigators from the international Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were due to visit Britain on Monday to collect samples of the nerve agent used.
AFP / John SAEKIBritish experts have identified the substance used against Segei Skripal as the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok
They will meet officials from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down, coincidentally located near Salisbury, where the chemical was identified as the Soviet-designed Novichok.
They will also meet police before sending samples to international laboratories for testing, with results expected to take at least two weeks, according to British officials.
- 'Complete drivel' -
In a joint statement last week, the leaders of the United States, Germany and France backed Britain's analysis that the Russian state was responsible for what British police suspect was the attempted murder of Skripal.
It is considered to be the first offensive use of a nerve agent on European soil since World War II.
The three countries called for Russia to fully disclose details of its Novichok programme to the OPCW, a demand also backed by the EU foreign ministers on Monday.
In his first direct comments on the incident, after winning a fourth term as president in Russia's election on Sunday, Putin was defiant.
"It's complete drivel, rubbish, nonsense that somebody in Russia would allow themselves to do such a thing ahead of elections and the World Cup," he told supporters.
"We have destroyed all chemical weapons," he said, adding that Russia was ready to take part in the investigation.
- 'Malign behaviour' -
AFP / JOHN THYSBritish Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called Russia's denials in the nerve agent case "absurd"
Arriving in Brussels for talks with EU allies on Monday, however, Johnson said that "they're not fooling anybody any more".
"The Russian denials grow increasingly absurd. This is a classic Russian strategy of trying to conceal the needle of truth in a haystack of lies and obfuscation," he said.
On Sunday, Johnson also accused Moscow of stockpiling the Soviet-designed nerve agent, in violation of the international Chemical Weapons Convention.
"We actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination, but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok," he told BBC television.
Britain last week announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Moscow. Britain also announced a boycott by members of the royal family and ministers of this summer's World Cup football tournament in Russia.
But Moscow has accused London of casting the blame too hastily, and its ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, suggested at the weekend that Britain itself may have been the source of the chemical.
Britain has pointed to a similar case from the recent past: the 2006 radiation poisoning of former spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London.
London has also emphasised what it says is a pattern of Russian aggression, including its annexation of Crimea and alleged meddling in Ukraine, which has already prompted heavy EU sanctions.
AFP/File / Ben STANSALLInvestigators are probing the use of nerve agent Novichok in the poisoning of an ex-spy in Salisbury, Englandcopy https://www.afp.com/en/
"There is scarcely a country round the table here in Brussels that has not been affected in recent years by some kind of malign or disruptive Russian behaviour," Johnson said Monday.
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