Putin returned to Russia for a fifth term as president after a resounding election victory

Russian President Vladimir Putin strengthened his already firm hold on power on Sunday by winning the election in a record-breaking post-Soviet landslide.

As a result, Putin, 71, will begin a new six-year term that, should he finish, would surpass Josef Stalin’s record of 200 years as Russia’s longest-serving leader.

According to an exit survey conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), Putin received 87.8% of the vote, the greatest percentage of any candidate in Russia’s post-Soviet history, according to news agency Reuters.

Partial results indicated that ultra-nationalist Leonid Slutsky came in fourth, rookie Vladislav Davankov came in third, and communist contender Nikolai Kharitonov came in second with a little less than 4%.

Putin promised supporters during a victory address in Moscow that he would bolster the Russian military and give priority to finishing duties related to what he described as Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.

“We have a ton of work ahead of us. However, Putin said, “Nobody has ever succeeded in history, they are not succeeding now, and they will never succeed in the future when we are consolidated, no matter who wants to intimidate and suppress us.”

A number of people have been murdered in strikes by Ukrainian drones and missiles inside Russia during the election.

Thousands of opponents of Putin demonstrated against him at voting places both domestically and internationally at midday, spurred on by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who passed away in an Arctic jail last month.

Putin told reporters that he thought Russia’s election was democratic and that the protest against him, which was sparked by Navalny, had no bearing on the result of the vote.

In response to a question about whether his re-election was democratic by the US TV network NBC, Putin criticized the legal and political institutions in the US.

“The whole world is laughing at what is happening (in the United States),” stated the politician. “This is just a disaster, not a democracy.”

“Is it democratic to use administrative resources, including the judiciary, to attack one of the candidates for the presidency of the United States?” he said, perhaps alluding to the four criminal charges that Republican nominee Donald Trump was facing.

Over the course of three days, votes were cast online, at voting places spread around Russia’s eleven time zones, and in unauthorizedly annexed areas of Ukraine. Voting was still underway at several embassies abroad on Sunday night, even after elections closed in Russia.

Throughout the election season, several dozen incidents of vandalism at polling places were recorded, despite stringent restrictions.

Some were caught for inserting ink or green disinfectant into vote boxes, while others were nabbed for attempting to create fires or detonate explosives at voting places, notably in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

According to the political arrest watchdog organization OVD-Info, 80 people were taken into custody on Sunday in 20 different Russian towns.