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Vladimir Putin referred to Alexei Navalny by name for the first time in years and confirmed that he had agreed to allow a prisoner swap before his death. The
Russian leader addressed his people at a news conference after the polls closed in the presidential
election , which has seen Putin win his fifth term with a record number of votes. Putin said he had been ready to release Mr Navalny in a swap for unidentified inmates in Western custody, just days before the opposition leader's death. Last month, reports came out that said talks to free Mr Navalny were in their “final stages” before the opposition leader was reported dead on February 16 in an Arctic penal. Associate Maria Pevchikh, who lives outside Russia, said she had received confirmation about how far the talks had progressed the day before. “Alexei Navalny could have been sitting here now, today. It's not a figure of speech,” she said in a video statement. According to Ms Pevchikh, Mr Navalny and two US citizens held in
Russia were supposed to be swapped for Vadim Krasikov. He was serving a life sentence in
Germany for the 2019 killing in
Berlin of Zelimkhan "Tornike" Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen of Chechen descent. She did not identify the US citizens who were supposedly part of the deal. Russia's Central Election Commission has confirmed that Putin won another term on Monday .
Britain accuses Putin of acting as modern-day Stalin after sham poll Putin is ‘modern-day Stalin’ who ‘stole’ Russian election, Shapps says Cameron criticises Russia election after early results show Putin landslide What you need to know when buying a pre-loved electric car The results came after Putin unleashed the country's harshest crackdown on the opposition and free speech since Soviet times. Only three token candidates - and no one who opposes his war in
Ukraine - were allowed to run against Putin as he sought another six years in power. Putin hailed overwhelming preliminary results as an indication of "trust" and "hope" in him - while critics saw them as another reflection of the preordained nature of the election. He said at a meeting with his campaign staff after the polls closed: "Of course, we have lots of tasks ahead. "But I want to make it clear for everyone: When we were consolidated, no one has ever managed to frighten us, to suppress our will and our self-conscience. "They failed in the past and they will fail in the future." Putin has led Russia as president or prime minister since December 1999, a tenure marked by international
MILITARY aggression and an increasing intolerance for dissent. Russia's Central Election Commission said that with nearly 100% of all precincts counted, Putin got 87.29% of the vote. Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said that nearly 76 million voters cast their ballots for Putin, his highest vote tally ever. North Korean leader
Kim Jong Un along with the presidents of Honduras, Nicaragua and
Venezuela quickly congratulated Putin on his victory, as did the leaders of the ex-Soviet Central Asian nations of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, while the West dismissed the vote as a sham. The UK's Foreign Secretary David Cameron wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: "This is not what free and fair
elections look like." In the tightly controlled environment, Mr Navalny's associates urged those unhappy with Putin or the war to go to the polls at noon on Sunday - and lines outside a number of polling stations both inside Russia and at its embassies around the world appeared to swell at that time. Among those heeding call was Yulia Navalnaya , Mr Navalny's widow, who spent more than five hours in the line at the Russian Embassy in Berlin. She told reporters that she wrote her late husband's name on her ballot. Asked whether she had a message for Putin, Mrs Navalnaya replied: "Please stop asking for messages from me or from somebody for Mr Putin. "There could be no negotiations and nothing with Mr Putin, because he's a killer, he's a gangster." But Putin brushed off the effectiveness of the apparent protest. He said: “There were calls to come vote at noon and this was supposed to be a manifestation of opposition. "Well, if there were calls to come vote, then... I praise this." MORE ABOUT Have your say...