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Russian election latest: Putin claims landslide win as West condemns 'pseudo-election' - BBC News Russian election latest: Putin claims landslide win as West condemns 'pseudo-election' - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
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.
"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". 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".
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". Never before have we seen a presidential campaign which was so in breach of constitutional standards."
The foreign secretary calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners. The group goes on to say in its statement that the fundamental articles in the Russian constitution - guaranteeing political rights and freedoms - were "essentially not in effect".
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". 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.
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