Russia elections – live: Putin declares sham victory as thousands join Navalny widow for protests

Any public criticism of Vladimir Putin or his war in Ukraine has been stifled. Independent media have been crippled. His fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile.

Beyond the fact that voters had virtually no choice, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited. According to Russia’s Central Election Commission, Mr Putin had some 87 per cent of the vote with about 90 per cent of precincts counted.

Reiterating the concerns, British foreign secretary David Cameron wrote on X: “The polls have closed in Russia, following the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, a lack of choice for voters and no independent OSCE monitoring. This is not what free and fair elections look like.”

More than 85 protesters have been arrested in Russia for participating in the “Noon Against Putin” campaign, independent human rights group OVD-Info has reported.

Russian president Vladimir Putin basked in a victory early today that was never in doubt, as partial election results showed him easily securing a fifth term after facing only token challengers and harshly suppressing opposition voices.

With little margin for protest, Russians crowded outside polling stations at noon yesterday, on the last day of the election, apparently heeding an opposition call to express their displeasure with Mr Putin. Still, the impending landslide underlined that the Russian leader would accept nothing less than full control of the country’s political system as he extends his nearly quarter-century rule for six more years.

Mr Putin hailed the early results as an indication of “trust” and “hope” in him — while critics saw them as another reflection of the preordained nature of the election.“Of course, we have lots of tasks ahead. But I want to make it clear for everyone: When we were consolidated, no one has ever managed to frighten us, to suppress our will and our self-conscience. They failed in the past and they will fail in the future,” Mr Putin said at a meeting with volunteers after polls closed.

Editorial: The more support Western allies of Kyiv provide, the more holes are punched in Putin’s false vision of the world

With the results of the vote already known in advance, it may be tempting to cast a blind eye to the proceedings, writes Mary Dejevsky. But after the death of Alexei Navalny, and uncertainty around Ukraine, things may not be quite as predictable as they seem…

Starting with a call for citizens to head to the polls en masse at noon on Sunday – in a symbolic show of dissent – Russia’s opposition begins a new chapter in the wake of the death of Putin’s fiercest critic Alexei Navalny, writes Tom Watling

From the hush of isolated Siberian villages to the clamor of big cities to war battered towns in occupied parts of Ukraine, Russians voted in a presidential election overwhelmingly dominated by Vladimir Putin.

With ballots counted from about 30% of precincts on Sunday evening, Putin was clearly headed for victory, notching more than 85% of the vote, according to the national election commission.

Putin’s glide to another six-year tem was never in doubt.

Yulia Navalnaya, who had endorsed her late husband’s call to flock to the polling stations for the “Noon Against Putin” campaign, waited in line for six hours outside the Russian embassy in Berlin before casting her vote.

She told crowds after she left the building that she had written her husband’s name on the ballot, having waited in a line more than a kilometre long and which snaked through multiple streets.

Vladimir Putin has said Alexei Navalny’s name for the first time in more than a decade as he declared his victory in the rigged presidential elections.

“As concerns Mr Navalny. Yes, he passed away. This is always a tragic event, but there were other events when people in prison died. Hasn’t that happened in the US? Of course it has,” Putin said.

It is widely suspected that Russian authorities killed Mr Navalny last month in the Arctic Circle penal colony where was being held on trumped up charges of extremism.

Putin added that his officials had passed on an offer to release Mr Navalny in a swap, without providing evidence, days before he died.

“It happens,” he said. “What can you do? That’s life.”

The British foreign and defence ministers have condemned Russia’s presidential elections as exit polls suggest Vladimir Putin has won a landslide victory.

“The polls have closed in Russia, following the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, a lack of choice for voters and no independent OSCE monitoring,” said foreign secretary Lord David Cameron. “This is not what free and fair elections look like.”

Defence minister Grant Shapps said: “Putin has stolen another election, but he will not steal Ukraine.

“The UK will work with our allies to stop this thief by increasing our collective support for Ukraine. As history shows, we have to stop dictators & autocrats, or they go on to steal even more.”