Financial Times led with Kremlin gloating over what it suggested was the Skripal Effect:
Vladimir Putin won re-election as Russia’s president in a landslide on Sunday that Moscow partly credited to the diplomatic storm with Britain over the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal.
“Turnout is higher than we expected, by about 8-10 per cent, for which we must say thanks to Great Britain,” said Andrei Kondrashov, Mr Putin’s campaign spokesman, as preliminary results suggested Mr Putin had won 75.6 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s presidential election.
“We were pressured exactly at the moment when we needed to mobilise [voters]. Whenever Russia is accused of something indiscriminately and without any evidence, the Russian people unite around the centre of power. And the centre of power is certainly Putin today,” Mr Kondrashov said at a victory party for the president’s campaign.
Putin met with supporters and reporters late on March 18 at his campaign headquarters in Moscow after results showed his landslide victory in the first round. Putin thanked his supporters and joined their chants of "Russia!"
March Moustacheness
YouTube celebrity Yury Dud' appears to be pressing Pavel Grudinin to make good on a dare that Dud' posed in February to the Communist Party nominee to shave his moustache if he fails to reach 15 percent of the vote.
- By Andy Heil
Acknowledging And Congratulating
One of the things that observers are keeping an eye on is who is offering congratulations to Putin on his reelection.
Little surprise that a number of leaders in ex-Soviet countries have already expressed best wishes, including Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka (23 years in power), Moldovan President Igor Dodon (14 months in power), and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev (narly 18 years).
Other leaders so far include Bolivian President Evo Morales, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Cuban leader Raul Castro, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
A spokesman for German Chancelor Angela Merkel also said on March 19 that the German chancelor would "soon" congratulate Putin on his electoral victory, according to Reuters, adding that while Berlin is at odds with Russia on many issues but will stay in contact. AFP quoted the spokesman as citing "challenges" in relations.
It remains unclear what the U.S. plan is. Then-President Barack Obama in 2012 used a message of acknowledgement after Putin's election to give a nod to "achievements in U.S.-Russia relations over the past three years with President Medvedev" and urge progress in a number of areas, including "Syria and missile defense."
- By Andy Heil
Results Nixed From Seven Polling Sites
Central Election Commission Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova has announced the nullification of results from seven five polling stations, including one in the Moscow region (including Nos. 1480, 1204, 1353, 509). Current Time TV has more here.
- By RFE/RL
RFE/RL's live blog of the Russian presidential election is closing down for the night.
Check back in first thing Monday morning when we resume coverage.
Cпокойной Ночи и Удачи! Good Night and Good Luck!
Zhenya The Apathetic Clown Wants You To Know There Was ‘No Real Choice’ In Russia’s Election
MOSCOW – He sang and twirled as child-friendly pop music blared from a mobile sound system, but it was clear Zhenya the clown’s heart just wasn’t in it.
“There is no real choice,” said the 20-year-old whose full name is Yevgeny Kiva. He told RFE/RL that he had been paid by the local election committee in Moscow’s working-class Tekstilshchiki neighborhood to wear a clown suit and entertain the children of voters in Sunday’s presidential election, which was certain to go in favor of President Vladimir Putin, securing him a fourth, six-year term.
Kiva conceded, however, that he had cast his vote for the incumbent leader, because “there is no one else who can do it like Putin.”
While election officials at Moscow polling stations visited by RFE/RL said turnout had been steady and higher than the previous presidential election, voter apathy was palpable here and reportedly across this vast country following what was a lackluster campaign season.
Many, including the costumed clown dancing to children’s pop music, couldn’t hide their indifference on election day.
- By RFE/RL
Putin Wins Landslide Victory Amid Reports Of Violations, Pressure To Vote
MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has won six more years in office, with official results handing him a landslide victory amid reports of thousands of violations and widespread pressure on citizens to vote.
Central Election Commission results broadcast on state television after the polls closed showed that with more than 65 percent of ballots counted, Putin had 75.7 percent of the votes cast in the March 18 election.
Exit polls from two main pollsters -- including state-owned VTsIOM -- showed Putin winning with more than 73 percent of the vote.According to the election committee, Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin was second with 12.7 percent of the vote, followed by flamboyant ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky with 6.1 percent and journalist and TV personality Ksenia Sobchak with 1.4 percent. The four other candidates -- liberal Grigory Yavlinsky, nationalist Sergei Baburin, Communists of Russia candidate Maksim Suraikin, and centrist Boris Titov -- had less than 1 percent apiece.