Blinken’s interventionist comments about the Russian election

Anthony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, reacted to the recent Russian presidential election in which Vladimir Putin won with more than 87% of the votes.

Blinken claimed that the election “took place in an environment of severe repression of independent voices and the imprisonment, death or exile of almost all genuine political opponents”; A claim that the Kremlin rejected.

Blinken claimed that the Russian government refused to allow international election observers and refused to register some opposition candidates “on bogus technical pretexts”. The US Secretary of State called the Russian elections “undemocratic” and criticized Russia for holding elections in annexed regions “as a clear propaganda exercise”.

The head of the Central Election Commission of Russia announced that Vladimir Putin won the overwhelming majority of votes in the election of the eighth presidential term of Russia and became the president of this country for the fifth time.