Vladimir Putin wins fifth term as President of Russia | 5 key takeaways from his post-election speech

President Vladimir Putin secured 88 per cent of the votes cast in the Russian elections 2024, registering a landslide victory in the polls that critics say have been neither free, nor fair. This preordained win has cleared the way for the former spy to become the longest-serving Russian leader in over 200 years.

In his speech following the voting, Putin spoke about a variety of things. Here are the highlights from his address:

1 - Vote of trust for Putin: At his campaign headquarters in Moscow, Putin said his imminent victory in Russian presidential elections were a sign that Russians trust his leadership.

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“I want to thank all of you and all citizens of the country for your support and this trust,” he said.

2 - World War III: Putin said that if a conflict breaks out between Russia and the United States-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), there are risks of World War III. These remarks came after French President Emmanuel Macron’s consistent refusal to rule out putting troops on the ground in Ukraine.

3 - A word for the West: Putin cast his election win as a justification of his decision to defy the West and to invade Ukraine.

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“No matter who or how much they want to intimidate us, no matter who or how much they want to suppress us, our will, our consciousness – no one has ever succeeded in anything like this in history. It has not worked now and will not work in the future. Never,” the Russian President said.

3 - Elections in annexed Ukraine: Speaking about elections in annexed Ukrainian areas of Donbas, Novorossiya, and Crimea, Putin said: “I thought that they would be good, significant, positive, but that they would be such as we see them today, even I, frankly speaking, did not expect that[…]This means that we are doing everything right. People are grateful to us for the decisions we made to protect them, and this is the main motivation for all our actions.”

5 - Alexei Navalny’s death: For the first time in several years, Putin used late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s name to address his alleged murder. The president said he had been ready to release him in a prisoner exchange.

Navalny’s death was a “sad event”, Putin stated.

With inputs from agencies