EU chief ‘congratulates’ Putin on win as vote starts

EU chief Charles Michel yesterday sarcastically congratulated Russia's Vladimir Putin on winning reelection against no real opposition -- as voting was only just beginning.

"Would like to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his landslide victory in the elections starting today," European Council President Michel wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"No opposition. No freedom. No choice."

Putin looks certain to claim a new term that will extend his iron grip over Russia for another six years.

The vote from yesterday to Sunday comes as the West has sought to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine and after the Kremlin has ruthlessly crushed all genuine opposition at home.

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of deceased Putin foe Alexei Navalny, has called on the West not to recognise election results.

A victory by Putin would see his reign outstretch that of Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin, making his rule the longest in Russia since Catherine the Great.

Meanwhile, he first day of voting in Russia's presidential election was marred by acts of vandalism at polling stations, with at least nine arrests for pouring dye into ballot boxes and arson attacks.

Vladimir Putin is set to secure another six years in the Kremlin after a three-day vote he has cast as a show of Russians' loyalty and support for his military assault on Ukraine, now in its third year.

Despite authorities warning that election-day protesters faced heavy punishment, at least nine were arrested for acts of vandalism at polling stations.

In Moscow, video showed a woman setting a voting booth alight, filling a polling station with smoke, while another showed a woman pouring green dye into a ballot box.

Four others in the Russian regions of Voronezh, Karachay-Cherkessia and Rostov were detained for similar offences, while in Saint Petersburg and the Siberian region of Khanty-Mansi, women were detained for throwing Molotov cocktails at polling stations.

A man was detained for lighting fireworks inside a polling station in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk, while in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, an explosive device was detonated at a voting site.

Close to the border with Ukraine, a wave of Ukrainian drone and artillery strikes killed two people in the Belgorod region.

In power as president or prime minister since the final day of 1999, victory in the three-day vote would allow Putin to stay in power until 2030 -- longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.

On the eve of the vote, Putin urged Russians to back him in the face of a "difficult period" for the country.

The Kremlin leader's confidence is riding high.

His troops have secured their first territorial gains in Ukraine in nearly a year and his most strident opponent of the last decade, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison colony last month.

In Moscow, a few dozen residents queued in the morning sun to be among the first in the capital to cast their ballots.

"It's important to vote, for Russia's future," said 70-year-old Lyudmila.

She backed Putin and was hoping for "above all, victory" in Ukraine, she said.