Following the Russian elections, Vladimir Putin was re-elected as the President for the fifth time. On Monday, PM shahbaz Sharif congratulated and tweeted to acknowledge this win.
Putin as a former KGB lieutenant has been in power since 1999 and still managed to win with sweeping votes. Upon his victory, he made a statement emphasising the significance of this to the west. He further implied that he would lead Russia out of this “difficult” time. “We are a united and great nation, and together we will overcome all obstacles, realise everything we have planned, and together, we will win,” he said.
Within the domestic policies of Russia, Putin unarguably dominates. Whereas, in international politics he stands as a confrontational figure to the West. Accordingly, there has been serious skepticism in the West regarding the fairness of these elections. Unites states, United Kingdom and Ukraine have labelled the process as biased. However, Putin implied that the West would have to recognize the steadfast backing from his populace and the authoritativeness that the Russian nation exudes.
He won 87.8% of the votes marking this as the highest result in Russia’s Post-soviet history. Consequently, Putin has been appointed for six-year-term, producing another milestone of becoming the country’s longest-serving leader in over two centuries.
Subsequently, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has congratulated Putin on this enormous win, extending his heartiest congratulations. He further added in his direct statement that he is looking forward to working with the new president to mutually extract benefits of their two peoples. This eagerness to collaborate highlights the strong bilateral ties between the two nations and perhaps further strengthening of them in the near future.