Vladimir Putin has warned of World War III as he inevitably secures his tenure as Russia’s leader after tearing up a charter restricting his time in the Kremlin.
The 71-year-old dictator will now be in power until at least 2030 after orchestrating a sham election to achieve his biggest landslide victory of more than 87 percent.
Putin scored a simple victory by being re-elected with a record 87. 33% of the vote (after a 73% turnout) while facing symbolic rivals and suppressing opposition voters.
Last night, the brazen leader delivered a “victory speech” just hours after the polls closed, thanking Russians for their “trust” and “support,” the outcome of which would allow Russian society to “become stronger. “
Once again, the despot warned that the world could be on the brink of breaking out into World War III if Western troops enter Ukraine, where Russia’s invasion has remained stalled for more than two years.
He vowed to “defeat” his enemies to the applause of a crowd of supporters.
Putin said: “We are all one team. No one can repress us, they will succeed. “
“But we, as a united family, can defeat them.
“And all our goals will be met, we will do everything we can for them. “
After nearly a quarter-century of iron-fisted rule, anyone who may have defied it is in prison, exile or dead amid Russia’s harshest crackdown on opposition since Soviet times.
The voting lacked a real festival, and Putin’s path to the most sensible polls was never in doubt.
Only three symbolic candidates were allowed to oppose the dictator; none of them had opposed his brutal war in Ukraine.
Putin now begins his fifth term as the country’s leader with little resistance as he continues to brazenly attack the opposition.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron today criticized the effects, stating: “These Russian elections evidently mark the intensity of the repression of President Putin’s regime, which seeks to silence any opposition to its illegal war. “
Defense Secretary Grant Shapps also accused Vladimir Putin of behaving like “a modern-day Stalin” who “stole” the election.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sees Putin as a “sick guy of power” as his troops continue to fight Russian forces.
The war leader added: “It is transparent to everyone that this character, as has been the case throughout history, simply has poor strength health and does his best to rule forever.
“There is no legitimacy in this imitation of elections and there cannot be.
“This user will be tried in The Hague. That’s what we have to ensure. “
A White House spokesperson said, “It is clear that the election is neither weak nor fair, given the way Mr. Putin has imprisoned his conflicting political parties and prevented others from running against him. “
Even with little room for protest, Russians piled up open-air polling stations at noon on Sunday, the last day of the election, to show their discontent with the shameful election.
Over the weekend, Putin was furious to see Russians protesting by destroying ballots and even throwing Molotov cocktails at voting booths.
But the despots of the world were quick to congratulate Vlad on his crushing victory.
Putin simply has health problems and is doing his best to rule forever.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was among the first to toast Putin, Russia’s longest-serving dictator since Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, for his “decisive” election victory.
Chinese President Xi Jinping also sent a congratulatory message to Putin, saying his re-election “fully reflects the dignity of the Russian people. “
Beijing’s Foreign Ministry also praised China-Russia’s “continuous progress in the new era. “
Putin’s closest best friend Kim Jong-un, who has provided Putin with huge stockpiles of ammunition for the war in Ukraine, sent “congratulations” to his embassy in Russia this morning.
The Russian constitution stipulates that presidents serve more than two consecutive six-year terms.
But in 2020, the power-hungry Vlad orchestrated an amendment exempting him from presidential term limits until 2036, when he will be 83.
Beyond the fact that the electorate had virtually no choice, independent elections were incredibly limited.
Putin’s victory, declared a few hours after the polls closed, was based on the first effects of the votes, with the final official effects to be published a few days after all the newspapers had been counted.
For the first time, polling stations were open for three days instead of one, and online voting was an option in 27 Russian regions and in Crimea, which Putin illegally seized a decade ago.
Putin also opened voting in the annexed Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson; Russian forces do not have full control over them.
In the occupied Donetsk region, where elections are illegal, he won 95. 23% of the vote, while in Luhansk he won 95% of the vote.
Experts said extending voting to several days and allowing online voting compounded a lack of transparency.
Opposition teams have claimed in the past that virtual voting in parliamentary elections showed signs of manipulation.
With the help of more than 8 million online votes, Putin’s margin of victory exceeded its point in the last four elections.
Some 75 people were arrested on Sunday amid the “noonday against Putin” protests called by Alexei Navalny before his death last month.
He expected Russians to show up across the country at noon and cancel their votes, or vote for a candidate, drawing attention to widespread discontent.
His wife Yulia echoed his calls for a courageous movement and joined the crowd of protesters in Berlin to do the same in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin.
As she took to the streets, many applauded her, she stopped to take pictures with the crowd and wept as she revealed that she had written her late husband’s call on the ballot.
In Russian embassies around the world, where Putin’s strength is weakest, other people would stand up even more provocatively when they went to vote.
There were many of them, and some held signs with messages such as “He’s not president and it’s not an election. “
In Georgia, a blood-red sign read: “Enough of Putin. Lies, war, repression. “
And a huge effigy in Berlin depicted the despot in a bathroom painted in Ukrainian colors, washing himself with blood.
Chaos also reigned at some polling stations, and a man was reportedly arrested in Moscow for pouring gallons of paint into a ballot box.
Other photographs show him slipping his poll into a ballot box before pouring a green liquid over the packed bureaucracy inside.
Millions of eyes in Russia – and around the world – are now on Putin’s plan for his next term, with the quick aim of achieving victory in Ukraine.
And despite boasting of Russian successes on the battlefield in the run-up to the election, Ukraine this week introduced unprecedented drone strikes across Russia.
But experts worry that if Putin — Russia’s longest-serving dictator since Soviet leader Joseph Stalin — has good luck in Ukraine, the bloodshed could spread across Europe.
Colonel Hamish of Bretton Gordon said he was considering an attack on Europe.
He told The Sun: “I think he’s doing everything he can at the moment [in Ukraine].
“It’s throwing everything into the ‘meat grinder’ in hopes of outlasting Western support, which will likely wane by the end of the year.
“If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, he will go to the West.
“It will first attack Latvia and Lithuania, which belong to NATO. “
In a speech just two weeks before his almost certain re-election, Putin warned that the West is at risk of being bombed.
In his more than two-hour rant, Putin dismissively accused the West of seeking to “destroy” Russia as promised to Moscow’s targets in Ukraine.
He also lashed out at the U. S. , saying it seeks to defeat Russia and “drag us into an arms race. “
He insisted that Western Russia will have to be “adequately protected” after NATO welcomed Sweden and Finland into the military alliance.
The disjointed tyrant claimed that NATO forces are “preparing to enter territory. “
But he insisted in his venomous speech that the consequences for “potential invaders” would be “very tragic. “
In a thinly veiled threat, Putin warned that the West is in “danger of nuclear conflict” if it sends troops into Ukraine.
Colonel Bretton Gordon believes that Putin’s saber-rattling is nothing more than empty threats when it comes to nuclear war.
He said: “Putin will never embark on Armageddon, because it would be the end of his dream of a greater Russia.
“It’s huge in terms of legacy, that’s why it doesn’t need to destroy the planet.
“But he’s a strategist when it comes to manipulating the weaker leaders of the West.
“He’s bluffing about nuclear weapons and the faster we do it, the better. “
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