Based on the results of counting more than 99% of ballots, the current head of state Vladimir Putin is in the lead in the presidential elections, which took place in Russia from March 15 to 17.

Based on the results of processing more than 99% of the ballots, Putin received 87.29% of the votes.

Second place was taken by the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Nikolai Kharitonov with 4.30% of the votes.

In third place was Vladislav Davankov from the New People party with a result of 3.21% of the votes, fourth was Leonid Slutsky (LDPR) with 3.21% of the votes.

As Nikolai Bulaev, deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation, reported on the evening of March 17, over the three election days the turnout was 74.22%, which exceeds the same figure in the previous presidential elections in 2018.

Then the total turnout reached 67.54%.

Putin's current result also exceeds the results obtained by the current head of state in 2018, when 76.69% of voters voted for him.

Official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said that more than 372 thousand people voted abroad in the presidential elections of the Russian Federation.

She noted that this is preliminary data, since the last polling stations abroad closed at 05:00 Moscow time.

CEC Chairman Ella Pamfilova said on the evening of March 17 that the presidential elections in Russia were held very well.

“I want to say a huge thank you to everyone - to the entire country, which held these elections with incredible dignity, as a united people who understand what these elections mean for us and for our future,” Pamfilova said at a briefing at the CEC information center.

Congratulations on his victory in the elections were sent to Putin by the President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro, the leader of Bolivia Luis Arce, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, the head of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the Prime Minister of Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing, and the leader of the DPRK Kim Jong-un.

Putin visited the election headquarters

On the evening of Sunday, March 17, Putin visited his election headquarters, where he met with its leaders and volunteers, and also answered questions from journalists and spoke about the elections.

According to Putin, people came to the presidential elections to create conditions for internal political consolidation and move forward.

He thanked the Russian people for their support.

“The choice of the Russian people is important to me, I rely on the Russian people and work in the interests of these people and the Russian state.

And I am very grateful to the citizens of Russia for their support,” Putin said.

He expressed confidence that the further task is not to fix the election results, but on the basis of this result to move forward, fulfilling everything that was said during the election campaign.

According to Putin, everything he said in his message to the Federal Assembly was worked out and calculated.

“Everything that I said in my message to the Federal Assembly, and, in fact, this message was a pre-election work plan for the future, I said what had been worked out for several months at the level of experts from the government, the Central Bank, and the administration.

This is all feasible, everything has been calculated,” he said.

The President also noted that the election results in new regions of Russia and Crimea indicate that the Russian government is doing everything right.

“People are grateful to us for the decisions we made to protect them, and this is the main motivator and motive of all our actions,” he emphasized.

The head of state also expressed confidence that the hopes of residents of new regions of Russia will be realized.

He noted that we are primarily talking about security and social issues.

“And we will do everything to ensure that these aspirations of the people who live in these territories are realized,” Putin said.

Commenting on the reaction of a number of Western countries to the presidential elections in Russia, Putin drew attention to Moscow’s current relations with these states.

The President noted that many of these countries are fighting Russia armed.

“They set themselves the goal of holding back our development - of course, they will tell you anything,” Putin said.