By Blessing Chinagorom
The United States has broken its silence over the reelection of Russia’s Vladimir Putin as the President who won a landslide victory on last Sunday election, taking 87% of the vote after a three-day election derided by government critics.
The State Department Deputy Spokesman, Patel who made this known during the Press Briefing on Monday said the Russian people deserve a free and fair election and the ability to choose among a group of candidates representing a diverse set of views.
Going into the vote, the Kremlin was believed to seek not merely victory but a historic turnout: one that showed the country more united than ever behind their leader, more than two years into the full scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s Central Elections Commission later issued data showing 77% of the country’s eligible 114 million voters had cast ballots — a new post-Soviet record.
“I want to thank all of you and all citizens of the country for your support and this trust,” Putin said at campaign headquarters in Moscow early Monday.
Later, fielding questions at a press conference, Putin derided claims the vote was undemocratic and said Russians had merely rallied behind him when faced with threats from Ukraine and an aggressive West, according to report.
“We have many tasks ahead. But when we are consolidated — no matter who wants to intimidate or suppress us — nobody has ever succeeded. Not in history, not now, nor will they ever succeed in the future,” said Putin.
The Spokesman on behalf of the United States said the election certainly was an undemocratic process, adding that it is safe to say certainly no congratulatory calls will be coming from United States of America. “But like I said, Putin is likely to remain the President of Russia, but that does not excuse him of his autocracy”.
He pointed out that Russians, like everyone else, deserve access to impartial information to help them choose the leadership that they so desire and help them determine the future of their country. “And that was clearly not the case in these elections, which were neither free nor fair.
“As you all know, the Kremlin has imprisoned political opponents, prevented others from running. They’ve denied anti-war candidates, among other things. And as you also all know, that leading Kremlin critic Aleksey Navalny recently died in custody following years of harassment, abuse, and imprisonment”.
The Spokesman submitted that Russia’s election occurred in an environment of intense repression and imprisonment, and ultimately, while emphasized that Putin is likely to remain the President of Russia, but recognizing that is certainly not an excuse for his autocracy.
“I think it is safe to say that there certainly won’t be any congratulatory calls coming from the United States of America. But like I said, he is likely to remain the president of Russia, but that does not excuse him of his autocracy”, He continued to lay emphasis on Putin’s election victory.
Report has it that Putin’s opponents in the race — all members of Russia’s rubber-stamp parliament — barely ran campaigns or held any rallies at all. None received more than 5% of the vote.
Also, antiwar candidates were banned from the ballot over registration errors undoing the will of thousands of Russians who backed their candidacies with cumbersome signature gathering campaigns.
According to a human rights monitoring group, at least 89 Russians were detained for a series of election-related protests — some of them quickly went viral online.
