Friends and allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin were quick to congratulate him on his election win but some Western leaders did not welcome the development, tagging it an illegal action.
Beijing congratulated Putin, saying “China and Russia are each other’s largest neighbours and comprehensive strategic cooperative partners in the new era”.
Former Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev responded long before the final results were due to be announced, saying on Telegram: “I congratulate Vladimir Putin on his splendid victory in the election”.
Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said: “The Serb people welcomed with joy the victory of President Putin for they see in him a great statesman and a friend on whom we can always count and who will watch over our people”.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said: “Our older brother has triumphed, which bodes well for the world”.
Amid these laudes of congratulatory messages, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the result as illegitimate.
According to him, “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”.
“There is no evil he would not do to maintain his personal power. And no one in the world would have been safeguarded from this.”
Britain’s foreign minister David Cameron, also lamented thus; This is not what free and fair elections look like.”
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also added that the elections were neither free nor fair.
