No choice for Ukrainians - more Putin means more warpublished at 14:39 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

14:39 GMT 18 March

Sarah Rainsford
reporting from Kyiv

When Ukrainians write about Russia's presidential "election" they put the word in quote marks.

The vote was entirely engineered, so people here were not holding their breath for the result.

The only unknown was how much support Vladimir Putin would claim, and even for him 87% was quite something.

But no-one in Ukraine was laughing.

Whatever the supposed result on paper, the meaning here is clear: more deadly missile attacks, more drones, more shelling.

The full-scale invasion that Vladimir Putin ordered two years ago will go on.

Read the full story here.

Who congratulated Putin and who refused to?published at 14:28 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

14:28 GMT 18 March

Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

Image source, REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

Western countries have dismissed the results of Russia's election.

Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign affairs chief, has said on behalf of the bloc that the election took place amid systematic repression. Several EU countries, including France and Germany, have outright said they would not congratulate President Putin.

And so, Putin will have to look way beyond Europe if he wants to hear words of praise for the stunning electoral victory the Kremlin maintains he has won.

Beijing congratulated Putin early on. China's President Xi Jinping has said the election's result "fully reflects the support of the Russian people".

The presidents of Iran and Belarus have called Putin's victory "decisive" and "stunning" respectively.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Cuba's Miguel Diaz-Canel were similarly gushing, as were all the leaders of the central Asian countries with whom Russia maintains a close relationship.

Image source, Re

Vladimir Putin has already been in power for 24 years in one way or another and has just secured another six-years.

As he heads into his fifth term, he's already served 20 years as president and four as prime minister, when it was widely considered that he was in charge anyway.

At 71 years of age, he's already led Russia longer than any ruler since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who spent almost 31 years in power.

Russia's constitution was amended in 2020, increasing the presidential term from four to six years and giving Putin a clean slate to run again by cancelling out his previous terms.

Theoretically, he could seek a sixth term and continue until 2036, which would keep him longer in power than Catherine the Great in the 18th Century.

The European Union has denounced Russia's presidential election result, saying that the elections "took place in a highly restricted environment" where there was "systematic internal repression".

A joint statement from all 27 European Union countries says Russians have been denied a "real choice" after all candidates opposed to the war in Ukraine were excluded.

The EU has condemned the staging of the vote in regions of Ukraine occupied by Moscow and says "it does not and will never recognise either the holding of these so-called 'elections' in the territories of Ukraine or their results".

Image source, REUTERS/Stringer

The EU highlights the death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny in the run-up to the elections as a clear sign of "systematic repression".

Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, has said ministers meeting in Brussels are expected to impose sanctions on prison officials involved in Navalny's death in an Arctic prison colony last month.

Kremlin calls illegitimate election claims 'absurd' and criticises Yulia Navalnayapublished at 13:50 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

13:50 GMT 18 March

Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

Image source, HANNIBAL HANSCHKE/EPA-EFE

This morning, the Kremlin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was asked to comment on statements by Russian opposition activists saying that Putin's electoral victory was illegitimate.

Peskov said such claims were "absurd" - and seized the chance to blast Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of opposition politician Alexey Navalny, who lives in Berlin.

Peskov has accused her of "breaking away from the motherland" and of losing her Russian "roots".

"Yulia Navalnaya... belongs to this group of people who lose their roots, lose their ties to the motherland, lose their understanding of the motherland," Peskov has said.

Navalnaya hit back, posting on X, formerly Twitter: "I don’t understand whose press secretary Peskov is – mine or Putin’s?"

It's not the first time Peskov has publicly criticised Navalnaya, who has vowed to continue her late husband's "fight for a free Russia".

Days after Navalny's death was announced, Peskov called Navalnaya's accusations of Kremlin involvement "absolutely unfounded and vulgar".

Russia's electoral commission says all the votes have now been counted and it has published figures claiming Vladimir Putin won 87.28% of the vote.

Serious opposition candidates were not allowed to stand in Russia presidential election and the poll has been slammed by western governments as a sham.

Data from the electoral commission has said the communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov came second with 4.31% of the vote, centrist Vladislav Davankov third with 3.85%, and populist nationalist Leonid Slutsky fourth with 3.2%.

Image source, RUSSIAN COMMUNIST PARTY

Russian opposition will try to get creativepublished at 13:28 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

13:28 GMT 18 March

Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

It's impossible to know how many of those who turned up at polling stations at midday were there for the 'Noon against Putin' protest.

The point of the initiative was precisely of gathering likeminded people without them having to voice their anti-government stance.

But it would appear the initiative did have some success across Russia, and many opposition-minded people will have been heartened by the silent show of dissent.

Similar initiatives could spring up in the months to come, although the authorities will no doubt try to disrupt them.

Image source, Getty Images

More leaders from around the globe have been reacting to Vladimir Putin's widely expected victory in Russia's presidential election:

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated Putin with a message on X, formerly Twitter, saying that he was looking forward to boosting ties to develop their "special and privileged" strategic partnership
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not congratulate Putin for his re-election in a vote viewed by Berlin as neither free nor fair, a German government spokesperson says
• The French foreign ministry has commented on the votes in the Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia, saying the country will never recognise "these so-called elections", which it described as "a new breach of international law and of the United Nations Charter"

What could Putin's re-election mean for the war in Ukraine?published at 12:45 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

12:45 GMT 18 March

Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

While on the topic of the war in Ukraine, another key takeaway of Vladimir Putin's claimed landslide is understanding how it will impact the ongoing conflict.

Some observers - and many Ukrainians - are concerned he might usher in the next stage of mobilisation with a new call-up.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, and the Kremlin could use it to shore up popular support of its military endeavours in Ukraine.

In the hours since the results of the Russian presidential election were announced, the BBC's Ukrainecast team have been busy digesting and analysing what all of this could mean for the war in Ukraine.

In the latest episode, BBC Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg joins presenters Lyse Doucet and Vitaly Shevchenko.

You can listen here on BBC Sounds.

What Putin wants, Putin getspublished at 12:12 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

12:12 GMT 18 March

Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

Image source, EPA

Vladimir Putin has emerged from the three-day Russian presidential election as the winner. Although, as he faced no credible opposition, Western nations and independent electoral watchdogs have been quick to describe his re-election as a "sham".

Over the course of the next few posts, we'll be bringing in analysis on what Putin securing another six years in office means for not only Russia, but the world at large.

In the absence of any real opposition to Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has attempted to legitimise his rule by carefully curating a record voter turnout.

That outcome is widely thought to be artificially inflated to match the Kremlin's desired narrative - meaning that today's Putin wants to be seen as a leader who has managed to achieve his highest share of the vote since first being elected in 2000.

Image source, Reuters

The Golos movement, an independent group that monitors elections in Russia, has dismissed the outcome of the latest election as failing "to perform its main function".

The group goes on to say in its statement, external that the fundamental articles in the Russian constitution - guaranteeing political rights and freedoms - were "essentially not in effect".

The election monitor, which was labelled a foreign agent by the Kremlin back in 2021, also notes that the constitution was amended by Putin to remove term limits. Previously, this prevented anyone from staying in power for more than two terms.

It alleges that state apparatus was involved in "propaganda, coercion and control over voters" and that "a significant proportion of Russian society was not represented by any presidential candidate".

On the last day of voting, according to Golos, law enforcement officials punished voters for "incorrect" votes and even demanded that they reveal who they cast their votes for.

"Nothing like this has ever happened before in an election in Russia," it says.

Image source, Reuters

Two people have been killed and several more injured in Russia's Belgorod region by a Ukrainian missile attack, the region's governor says.

In a post on the messaging app Telegram today, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov says two males, one who was a 17-year-old teenager, were killed in a "direct hit at a private residential building".

Earlier today, Russia's defence ministry said their country's air defence systems had destroyed 10 Ukrainian rockets over the region at 08:30 local time (05:30 GMT).

There have been frequent attacks on Belgorod since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but they escalated in the run-up to this weekend's Russian elections.

Image source, EPA

Sixty-one criminal cases have been launched by the Russian Interior Ministry, and 150 administrative offence acts have been issued, during the 15-17 March presidential election, the Interfax news agency reports.

Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Gorovoy has been quoted by the Moscow-based news agency saying the largest number of criminal cases were for announcing a deliberately false act of terrorism (23) and for obstructing voters in exercising their rights (21).

Gorovoy claims that ministry departments had received "1,400 statements and reports of violations and possible crimes", and that 547 hoax bomb threats were made during the three-day election period.

As we've been reporting, at least 80 people have been arrested across Russia for allegedly vandalising polling stations.

Image source, Getty Images

We've just been seen the latest comments on the Russian elections from UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, who points to “widespread reports of electoral violations” in a statement, external.

"These Russian elections starkly underline the depth of repression under President Putin’s regime," he says before adding it "seeks to silence any opposition to his illegal war".

Lord Cameron has also been commenting on the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny at a penal colony in Siberia last month, saying it served as "a tragic reminder of the severity of political repression in Russia today".

The foreign secretary calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners.

Lord Cameron says holding elections in Crimea, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia "is an abhorrent violation of the UN Charter and Ukrainian sovereignty" and adds they "will always be Ukrainian".

That 87% is an astronomical figurepublished at 11:03 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

11:03 GMT 18 March

Steve Rosenberg
BBC Russia editor

True, it won't convince Western leaders that it is a genuine reflection of Putin's current level of popularity.

"This is not what free and fair elections look like," commented British Foreign Secretary David Cameron about Russia's presidential vote.

But domestically, it allows the Kremlin to argue that the whole nation has united around Vladimir Putin and that the Russian president has the full support of his people.

Crucially, he can now claim to have a popular mandate for his war in Ukraine and for the direction in which he's leading Russia.

Image source, MAXIM SHIPENKOV/EPA-EFE

The 87% also sends a clear message to Russia's political elite: "Take note, there's still only one man in charge here, in control - and that's not going to change any time soon."

And that's important for Vladimir Putin, less than a year after the brief, but dramatic mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group. That uprising, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, had posed a direct challenge to Putin's authority.

In the end, it was the Kremlin leader who came out on top. Two months after the mutiny, Prigozhin was dead, killed in a plane crash.

One more thing about 87% - it's a great confidence booster.

When you're president, and you're told you've won yet another landslide, it can make you feel even more powerful, invincible even.

Read the full analysis here.

Vitaly Shevchenko
BBC Monitoring

Image source, RUSSIAN-CONTROLLED DONETSK ELECTION COMMISSION

During Russia's presidential elections Moscow launched a wide-ranging campaign telling residents living in occupied parts of Ukraine to vote in Russia's presidential election.

For the first time, the national vote took place over three days (15 - 17 March), although voting began early in the occupied parts of four Ukrainian regions: Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk.

One resident complained of pro-Russian collaborators with ballot boxes going from house to house looking for voters accompanied by armed soldiers.

Image source, RUSSIAN-CONTROLLED KHERSON ELECTION COMMISSION

A pro-vote campaign called InformUIK, ostensibly designed to inform Ukrainians about the procedure of voting, seeks to visit all remaining residents of Russian-occupied regions at home.

They collect personal data to compile lists of voters, and sometimes film local residents during such visits. Russia's electoral chief in the partly occupied Zaporizhzhia region acknowledged that locals were worried about the filming.

Residents were also sent text messages informing them of the dates of the vote and tried-and-tested Soviet methods have also been deployed to attract people to polling stations, such as free concerts and food.

Read more on this story here.

Image source, Reuters

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has been speaking after yesterday's, predictable, election win for Putin.

He calls it "an exceptionally perfect result" and adds that it was the "most eloquent confirmation" of support from "the people of our country for their president".

No credible opposition candidate was allowed to stand in Russia's presidential election and Putin's most outspoken critics are either dead, in jail or in exile - so the result was essentially inevitable.

Peskov rejects Western criticism of the election and says Russia does not listen to such opinions.

Putin's fifth term likely to be more of the samepublished at 10:33 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

10:33 GMT 18 March

Steve Rosenberg
BBC Russia editor

As predictions go, a Putin landslide was the easy one. No crystal ball or tea leaves required there.

After all, in Russia, the Kremlin tightly controls the political system. Including elections.

But what will Vladimir Putin do with his 87%? What will a fifth Putin term look like?

Putin 5.0 may not be so different from Putin 4.0.

Don't expect an 'Abracadabra' moment where, with a wave of a magic wand, the hawk suddenly turns into a dove.

Chances are that President Putin will continue along his current path of conflict abroad and crackdown at home.

Looking ahead, that probably means a continuation of the war in Ukraine - and confrontation with the West - plus an ideological campaign on the domestic front as Putin pushes on with his transformation of Russia into an increasingly militaristic society.

As for Russian civil society, that's already under intense pressure. That may well intensify.

Read the full analysis here.

Image source, Reuters

Vladimir Putin's election victory comes 10 years on from Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, which began in February 2014.

In March 2014, Putin signed a law formalising Russia's takeover of Crimea from Ukraine after holding an internationally-discredited referendum.

Amnesty International has said "Russia has done everything in its power to delegitimise Ukraine's sovereignty over Crimea" and describes policies "to alter the ethnic makeup" of the peninsula.

Crimea was part of Russia within the Soviet Union until 1954, when the Soviet authorities transferred it to Soviet Ukraine.

In September 2022, Russia claimed to have annexed four more Ukrainian regions: Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk.

Image source, .