Vladimir Putin has been given a six-year term extension after winning the Russian presidential election with a resounding victory. The United States claims that the election in which the 71-year-old won a staggering 87.8% of the vote wasn’t free and fair.
The Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) claims that the proportion of votes cast in favor of Vladimir Putin is the highest in Russia’s post-Soviet history.
Should he serve out his remaining six years in office, Mr. Putin will have held the position of Russian leader with the longest duration since Catherine ‘the Great’s’ rule. Between 1762 and 1796, the former empress governed Russia for 34 years and 4 months.
From 1923 to 1954, Joseph Stalin, the former general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was the head of state for 29 years. Should Mr. Putin complete his term in office, he will have outlasted Stalin’s rule and become the longest-serving Russian leader in two centuries.
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The 71-year-old, who came to power for the first time in 1999, has already ruled the nation for 25 years, and his reelection on Sunday indicated that the Russian people still overwhelmingly support him.
Since 1999, the former KGB foreign intelligence officer has held three positions of authority in the country: president, prime minister, and another four-year stint as prime minister. He was re-elected president in 2012, and he has held the position ever since.
Vladimir Putin has been in power for an incredible 37 years after he signed an order in 2020 that extended his term until 2036.
There have already been five US presidents and seven UK prime ministers under Mr. Putin’s reign.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin forewarned the West on Monday in his first statement following his resounding victory.
Regarding the statement made by French President Emmanuel Macron and the potential for a confrontation between Russia and NATO, Mr. Putin told the media that anything was achievable in the contemporary world.
“Everyone can see that we are just a few steps away from a full-scale World War Three. I don’t think many people are interested in this,” he said.
