Western Leaders Dismiss Putin's 'Illegal' Poll Victory

Friends and allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin were quick to congratulate him on winning a fifth term in power but Western leaders condemned a ballot held under repressive conditions and with no credible opposition.

Here is a round-up of the main reactions so far to a vote that officially saw the 71-year-old Putin win a record landslide of 87.28 percent:

- Beijing congratulated Putin, saying: "China and Russia are each other's largest neighbours and comprehensive strategic cooperative partners in the new era."

President Xi Jinping said the result "fully reflects the support of the Russian people", Chinese state media reported.

- Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi hailed Putin's "decisive victory", state news agency IRNA reported.

- Chad's President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, son of the country's late longtime leader Idriss Deby, congratulated Putin in a Facebook post. He said the result was "proof of the Russian people's trust" in Putin.

- In Latin America, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said: "Our older brother Vladimir Putin has triumphed, which bodes well for the world".

- Cuba's Miguel Diaz-Canel said the official result was "a credible indication that the Russian population supports (Putin's) management of the country".

In Europe, however, the election met with condemnation.

- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed it as illegitimate.

"Everyone in the world understands that this person, like many others throughout history, has become sick with power and will stop at nothing to rule forever," he said.

"There is no evil he would not do to maintain his personal power."

- The European Union said Russians had been denied a "real choice" after all candidates opposed to the war in Ukraine were excluded.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the vote was "based on repression and intimidation".

The 27-nation bloc said it would "never recognise" the result of polling staged in regions of Ukraine occupied by Moscow. But it did not heed a call from the widow of leading Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny not to recognise Putin as the legitimate president of Russia.

- Germany's foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said the vote "without choice" demonstrated "Putin's heinous behaviour against his own people".

- France's foreign ministry said "the conditions for a free, pluralist and democratic election were not met".

It said the vote was held amid "increasing repression of civil society and all forms of opposition to the regime" and saluted "the courage of the many Russian citizens who have peacefully demonstrated their opposition to this attack on their fundamental political rights".

- British Foreign Minister David Cameron said the "illegal" election "starkly underline the depth of repression under President Putin's regime, which seeks to silence any opposition to his illegal war (in Ukraine)".

"Putin removes his political opponents, controls the media and then crowns himself the winner. This is not democracy."

- Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky called the vote a "farce".

- Moldova's president, Maia Sandu, said: "We cannot talk about free and fair elections when the real opponents are removed from the race, some are sent to jail, others are expelled from the country; when reprisals are so great that people are afraid to speak out; when nothing remains of the free press".

She added: "This is not the conscious and free choice of citizens."

- Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani condemned the vote as "neither free nor fair", adding: "We are continuing to work for a just peace that will bring Russia to put an end to the war of aggression against Ukraine."

- Norway, which shares a border with Russia, said the fact that the Kremlin had organised voting in parts of Ukraine "illegally occupied" by Moscow was "a serious violation of international law".

He praised those Russians "who still dare to work for... a different, better Russia".