Putin hails preordained electoral win as a sign of Russia's 'trust' in him: Updates

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed his preordained electoral victory Sunday as a sign of the country's "trust" and "hope" in him, and after stifling any real attempt at unseating him, felt confident enough to refer to late opposition leader Alexei Navalny by name.

Despite several opposition protests across Russia, Putin easily claimed another six-year term by getting 87% of the vote with 80% of the precincts counted, election officials said. Other candidates languished below 5%.

Putin has been in power since 1999, and the predetermined victory will allow him to surpass Josef Stalin's 29-year tenure, making the former KGB agent the longest-serving Russian leader in more than 200 years even though the country has been engaged in a costly war in Ukraine for more than two years. The turnout of 74.22% was higher than the 67.5% recorded in 2018.

In a post-election news conference, Putin surprisingly acknowledged being presented an offer of a prisoner swap that would free Navalny − his most prominent critic − from an Arctic prison days before he mysteriously died last month. Putin claimed he was in favor of the deal as long as Navalny did not return to Russia, and called his death an "unfortunate incident."

Navalny's legacy was alive as long lines formed at some polling places at noon in apparent support of the "Noon Against Putin" protest called for by the opposition. Some Russians living abroad also joined the demonstration by lining up outside Russian embassies around the world.

"The elections are obviously not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him," the White House National Security Council spokesperson said.

Putin, 71, brushed aside suggestions the election was not democratic and said he would prioritize bolstering the military. "We have many tasks ahead," he said, according to Reuters. "But when we are consolidated − no matter who wants to intimidate us, suppress us − nobody has ever succeeded in history, they have not succeeded now, and they will not succeed ever in the future."

Putin faced token challenges from three politicians who declined to criticize the man who has ruled with an iron fist for a quarter century. Two antiwar candidates, Boris Nadezhdin and Yekaterina Duntsova, were barred from running due to "irregularities" purportedly found in the candidate petitions and other documents.

"There isn't any real choice," the Free Russia Foundation said in a statement. "Observers are absent, repression is rampant, candidates face inadmissibility, and there's strict control over the information space."

Three days of voting concluded Sunday at polling stations across Russia and regions of Ukraine that Moscow claims to have "annexed" over the objections of the international community.

In a social media post, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron alluded to "the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, a lack of choice for voters and no independent ... monitoring," before adding, "This is not what free and fair elections look like."

Developments:

∎ More than 85 people were arrested in 21 Russian cities for protesting the election, the independent Russian human rights group OVD-Info reported Sunday. Occasional demonstrations of defiance included setting fire to voting booths and spoiling cast ballots by pouring dye on them.

∎ Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, joined the line at the Russian Embassy in Berlin as the crowd applauded and chanted her name. Navalnaya said she wrote in her late husband's name on the ballot and called Putin "a killer, a gangster."

∎ In Tallinn, Estonia, hundreds stood in a line snaking around the city’s cobbled streets leading to the Russian Embassy. Estonia, a nation of less than 1.5 million people that borders Russia, declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

With Russian presidential election, Vladimir Putin may cement longest reign since Stalin

Putin foes dismiss 'sham' election

Exiled businessman and opposition activist Mikhail Khodorkovsky said some dissenters were protesting by scrawling Navalny's name across their ballots. Khodorkovsky said Putin "craves international legitimacy" and markets himself as a global player to Russians. Western democracies must not recognize the election, he said.

"There can be no illusion of universal support for Putin in Russia," Khodorkovsky, who lives in London, said in a social media post. "The election is fraudulent, his inevitable victory is a sham, and must be recognized as such by the democratic world."

Ukraine drones target Moscow amid elections

Putin spoke confidently of military gains in the Ukraine war in the weeks leading up to the election. But early Sunday, armed Ukrainian drones attacked at least eight Russian regions, with some reaching as far as the Moscow area, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said four drones were shot down across the city, with no injuries or damage reported. More than 800 miles south of Moscow, "several" drones attacked the Slavyansk oil refinery in the Krasnodar Region, according to the regional anti-crisis center. A fire that broke out was promptly extinguished, authorities said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Russian election updates: Putin claims another term despite protests