Russia's election farce

Navalny team: “Figures for Putin made up”

Alexei Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya cast her vote in Berlin.

(Bild: AP)

Following the publication of partial results of the presidential election in Russia, according to which Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin received almost 88 percent of the vote, criticism of the ballot is growing - including from the team of the late opposition politician Alexei Navalny. The "invented figures clearly have nothing to do with reality", explained Navalny confidant Leonid Volkov on Sunday in the online service Telegram. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied the election "any legitimacy". 

"This election fraud has no legitimacy and cannot have any," said Zelensky in his evening video address on Sunday. "This figure (Putin) must end up in the dock in The Hague - we must see to that, everyone in the world who values life and decency."

"Faking another election"
Putin has faked another election these days. "It is clear to everyone in the world that this figure, as so often in history, is simply obsessed with power and will do anything to rule for life," said Selensky. "There is no evil he would not commit to prolong his personal power."

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Referring to the Russian invasion of his homeland and the war that has now lasted over two years, Selensky called for justice. "There must be just retribution for everything Russian murderers have done in this war and in the interests of Putin's lifelong power," he said. "He is afraid of only one thing - justice." Among Ukraine's demands for a peace agreement with Moscow is that those responsible in Russia's politics and military should answer to an international court.

"Not legal, free and fair"
Poland criticized the vote as "not legal". "Russia's presidential election is not legal, free and fair," declared the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw in the evening. The election was held "under severe repression" and in occupied parts of Ukraine in violation of international law.

No congratulations from the West
According to his spokesperson, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier does not wish to send any congratulations to Russian President Vladimir Putin on his re-election. "There will be no letter to Putin," spokeswoman Cerstin Gammelin told the "Tagesspiegel" newspaper on Sunday evening. In a statement Steinmeier had previously published on the X platform (formerly Twitter), she said: "Today I am thinking of the people in Russia who are fighting for freedom and democracy and who live in constant danger from Putin's regime. We do not forget these courageous people."

Austria's Foreign Ministry had already voiced criticism on Friday, at the beginning of the election. The ballot had begun amid repression, intimidation and persecution, it said on X. It also pointed out that there were no independent election observers from the OSCE. "The Russian people deserve a real election and the security and freedom to exercise it," it said on X. It also condemned "the sham elections" in the occupied regions. "These 'elections' are illegal, their results lack any legitimacy!"

Putin's victory in the three-day election was considered a foregone conclusion from the outset. Three insignificant candidates ran against him. All of the Kremlin leader's better-known critics are either dead, imprisoned or in exile.