Russians across the country and abroad cast their votes in the final day of voting in the 2024 presidential election, which handed Vladimir Putin, 71, another six years in power and to become the longest-serving Russian leader in more than 200 years.
Those who oppose the Kremlin formed long lines at their polling stations and embassies abroad for the “Noon Against Putin” protest called by allies of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The government-run VTsIOM pollster projected Putin had won the election with 87% of the vote after polls closed in Russia’s westernmost region of Kaliningrad at 17:00 GMT.
The Kremlin cast the election as an opportunity for Russians to throw their weight behind the full-scale military operation in Ukraine, where voting is also being staged in Russian-controlled territories.
Putin, a former KGB agent, has been in power since the last day of 1999 and is set to extend his grip over the country until at least 2030.
If he completes another Kremlin term, he will have stayed in power longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.
In a pre-election address, Putin said Russia was going through a “difficult period” and called on the country to be “united and self-confident.”
A concert on Red Square is being staged on Monday to mark 10 years since Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula — an event that is also expected to serve as a victory celebration for Putin.
