PREVIEW

Vladimir Putin Secures 5th Term as Russia’s President. On March 18, Russia's Central Election Commission confirmed that Putin won reelection by a landslide. He reportedly received over 87% of the vote. Countries that congratulated him include Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, North Korea, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. However, critics say that Putin didn't have any credible opposition, and free speech against him was stifled. For example, Alexei Navalny, a fierce opponent of Putin's, died last month in an Arctic prison, and his other critics have either been jailed or exiled, 'USA Today' reports. Independent media outlets have also been shuttered. "The elections took place in an ever-shrinking political space, which has resulted in an alarming increase of violations of civil and political rights and precluded many candidates from running, including all those opposed to Russia’s illegal war of aggression, deprived Russian voters of a real choice and heavily limited their access to accurate information.", Josep Borrell, the European Union's top foreign policy official, via statement. The United States referred to the vote as "neither free nor fair," while Germany called it a “pseudo-election." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Putin is "sick with power and is doing everything in his power to rule forever.”. Putin is currently Russia's "longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin," 'USA Today' reports. THIS VIDEO MUST NOT BE EDITED FOR LENGTH TO COMBINE WITH OTHER CONTENT