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Live blog
ma 18 Mar 09:53
We close this live blog. If there are any new developments in Russia, you can of course find them on our website. Thanks for reading along.
ma 18 Mar 07:01
Russia correspondent Geert Groot Koerkamp: “Polling stations were surrounded by police”
Geert Groot Koerkamp, correspondent in Russia, noticed yesterday how people who were going to vote were particularly hesitant to speak to journalists. “They were reluctant to explain why they were standing in line,” he says in De Ochtend on Radio 1.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of opposition politician Alexei Navalny, had called on Russians to go to the polls at the same time to vote invalid or against Putin. This was responded to in many cities at home and abroad.
Responding to Navalnaya’s call was one thing, but clearly speaking to journalists was another. “You never know where it will end up. Moreover, the police and national guard were present en masse, the polling stations were surrounded. That is of course quite intimidating.”
Yet the silent protests were significant, according to Groot Koerkamp. “They are a continuation of what we saw before: the tens of thousands of people who showed up for Navalny’s funeral, and the long lines of people who came to sign an autograph for an opposition candidate. These are signals that many people in Russia do not agree with what’s happening.”
Listen to: the full conversation with correspondent Geert Groot Koerkamp on Radio 1:
ma 18 Mar 06:21
Kim Jong-un wishes Putin luck
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent Putin a message to congratulate him on his re-election. This was reported by KCNA, North Korea’s news agency.
ma 18 Mar 05:47
President of Germany: “Putin will not receive any congratulations”
Good morning,
Today we continue with Vladimir Putin’s election victory in Russia. It is expected that government leaders worldwide will respond to the dubious monster score that the president has achieved.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the president of Germany, has already announced that he will not congratulate his Russian counterpart on his re-election. “There will be no letter to Mr Putin,” he told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
“I do think of the people in Russia who are fighting for freedom and democracy and who are constantly threatened by Putin’s regime. We will not forget these courageous people.”
Mon 17 Mar 23:59
Watch: soon after the polling stations closed, it is clear that Putin will (again) succeed himself as president of Russia
Mon 17 Mar 23:32
Russia expert Jan Balliauw: “These were not real elections”
With more than 87 percent of the votes, Putin exceeds all expectations in the Russian presidential elections. “The result may be better than what the Kremlin wanted,” said Russia expert Jan Balliauw in the VRT NWS Journaal.
Balliauw immediately makes a strong comment on that monster score. “These were not real elections. There were no real opposition candidates and no independent observers.”
Many foreign journalists were also not welcome in Russia during the elections. “That’s the reason I’m here (in the studio, ed.), and not in Moscow.”
Mon 17 March 23:15
Putin is said to have been willing to release Alexei Navalny in a prisoner swap
In recent weeks, reports had been spread from the entourage of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opponent who died in a prison camp last month, indicating that the Kremlin was in advanced negotiations about a prisoner exchange in which Navalny was allegedly involved.
Putin confirmed that there were plans to release Navalny in exchange for “certain people in prison in Western countries.” The Russian president is also said to have been willing to agree to that exchange, “on the condition that the opposition leader would not return to Russia.”
At the request of Navalny’s widow, opponents of the Russian regime held silent protests at various polling stations today.
The Russian president responded quite “laconically” to both the protests and the death of Navalny – during the press conference after his victory speech, says Russia expert Jan Balliauw in the VRT NWS Journaal. According to Balliauw, it was the first time that Putin used Navalny’s name in public.
Watch: Russia expert Jan Balliauw explains what Putin said about Navalny and the protests of his supporters
Mon 17 March 21:54
Putin in victory speech: “Russia will become stronger and more efficient”
During a victory speech at the headquarters of his election campaign team, Vladimir Putin thanks Russians who voted for him and assures them that they “chose the right path.” “We are one team,” is one of the words.
Thanks to his election victory, Russia will “become stronger and more efficient”, according to Putin. He also expressly thanks the “Russian fighters” and says that “all plans will be implemented and all goals will be achieved.”
Watch: Vladimir Putin thanks the Russians for their trust during a victory speech
zo 17 Mar 21:44
Movement in the Putin camp
On the live images we receive from Moscow we see movement among Vladimir Putin’s campaign team. It looks like the president of Russia will give a victory speech soon.
zo 17 Mar 20:56
David Cameron: “This is not what a free and fair election looks like”
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron responds to X. “The polls have been closed in Russia after illegally holding elections on Ukrainian soil.” He denounces the lack of “choice for voters” and the fact that there were “no independent observers” in Russia. “This is not what a free and fair election looks like.”
Mon 17 March 20:20
Team Navalny denounces elections
The team of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny – who died in a Russian penal colony – denounces the result that current President Vladimir Putin is said to have achieved in the elections.
That result “does not have the slightest bearing on reality,” said Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s former right-hand man. “The percentages proposed for Putin, of course, do not have the slightest bearing on reality,” Volkov said. “They are not worth talking about.”
Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, had called on her late husband’s supporters to all line up at polling stations at the same time this afternoon in a silent protest. She herself had written her husband’s name on the ballot paper she submitted at the Russian embassy in Berlin. The call was followed in many places.
Mon 17 March 20:18
Russia expert Marijn Trio: “Monster score must show that people in occupied Ukrainian territories were also waiting for Russia”
Marijn Trio, Russia expert at VRT NWS, emphasizes that the results of the Russian presidential elections cannot be verified in any way and that the incumbent president had no real opponents.
Trio is therefore not surprised by the “monster score” that Putin achieves. “These elections were intended to demonstrate that the war in Ukraine is supported by the people, in Russia, but also in the occupied Ukrainian territories.” Hence the immense ‘support’ for Putin in Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhia and Donetsk.
Watch: Russia expert Marijn Trio on Vladimir Putin’s ‘monster score’
Mon 17 Mar 19:58
Poland, Germany and UK talk about “illegal elections”
According to the Polish Foreign Ministry, Russia’s presidential elections were “neither legal, free, nor fair.” The polls took place “in a context of severe repression”. Voting also took place in the occupied territories in Ukraine, which is in violation of international law, Warsaw said.
The same message sounds from Germany. “The pseudo-elections in Russia are neither free nor fair, the outcome will surprise no one,” the German Foreign Ministry said. “Putin rules in an authoritarian manner, relying on censorship, repression and violence. The ‘elections’ in the occupied territories of Ukraine are invalid and a further violation of international law.”
“By illegally holding elections on Ukrainian soil, Russia is showing that it is not interested in finding a path to peace,” the British Foreign Office wrote on X. “The United Kingdom will continue to provide humanitarian, economic and military assistance to the Ukrainians who defend their democracy.”
Mon 17 Mar 19:32
Ukrainian President Zelensky: “Putin wants to rule forever”
During his daily video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also talked about the presidential elections in Russia. “The Russian dictator is ‘simulating’ elections again. He is greedy for power and wants to rule forever. These elections have no legitimacy,” Zelensky said.
Mon 17 Mar 19:19
Watch: Russia expert Jan Balliauw analyzes the first figures in the VRT NWS Journaal
Not only is the provisional result (87 percent) well higher than in the 2018 elections (77 percent), but the turnout is also higher. “Putin not only had to get a high score for the Kremlin, but the result also had to be widely supported. That is important for the ‘legitimacy’ of the result.”