The polls have closed in the Russian presidential election: Russian President Vladimir Putin was declared the winner of the Russian presidential election on Sunday evening, according to television exit polls. He won a landslide victory with 87.81% of the vote - and will remain in office until 2030.
In second place, after Putin, was the 75-year-old Communist Party candidate Nikolai Kharitonov - with 3.81% of the votes.
According to the Russian Election Commission, Putin also won landslide victories in the territories occupied by Ukraine: in the Luhansk region, Putin won 941% of the vote, 921% in Zaporizhia, and only 881% in the Kherson region, the part controlled by Russia. In Donetsk, Putin won 95% of the vote.
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At the end of his upcoming term, Putin is expected to overtake former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who served as leader for 31 years.
Putin himself has served alternately as president and prime minister over the years due to the country's constitution, which he changed ahead of the elections held today in order to allow himself to run again.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the polls in Russia: "The Russian 'election simulation' has no legitimacy, Putin wants to rule forever.".
The White House also responded that it was "quite clear" that the Russian elections "are neither free nor fair" because Putin imprisoned opponents and prevented others from running against him.
