President Vladimir Putin thanked the Russian people for their trust in the Presidential Elections

Published at: 17/03/2024 08:03 PM

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, thanked Russian citizens for their trust and support, in the Presidential Elections, which culminated this Sunday, March 17, with an absolute victory, the Russia Today website reported.

“I thank all the citizens of Russia for the trust they have placed in me, and I will do everything in my power to solve all the tasks that have been posed to the country and achieve the objectives that we consider to be priorities,” Putin told the press, after the first results of counting the votes cast in the Presidential Elections were presented, which showed a sweeping victory for the president.

In his first public speech after the publication of the preliminary results of the vote, he stated that “we have a lot of tasks ahead of us”.

President Putin stated that, the elections demonstrated the cohesion of the multinational people of Russia. “The high turnout is related to this. People came to create conditions for consolidation,” he said.

He recalled that the elections are not “something formal”, since “the votes of the citizens of Russia make up the unified will of the People”.

“We have a lot of concrete and important tasks ahead of us. The election results are the confidence of the country's citizens and their hope that we will do everything as planned,” he said.

Putin noted that calls from some sectors of the opposition for people to go to the polls can only be “applauded”, but he condemned the fact that some people damaged the ballot papers.

“If the opposition also felt that they should come and vote, it doesn't matter for whom, but coming to vote, that's fine, well done,” he said. “That some people have ruined ballots, that's wrong,” he added, recalling that this is a criminal offence and that law enforcement will act in accordance with the law.

On the other hand, he commented on the casualties of “traitors” who participated in military incursions into Russia, referring to Russian citizens who participate in the fighting on the Kiev side.

“The losses of traitors of the Russian Volunteer Corps (part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine) and other similar units in recent attacks amounted to 800 people,” he said of the fighting in recent days in the border areas of Belgorod and Kursk. “We don't have a death sentence, but we're going to perceive these people as those who are in the combat zone,” he said.

Faced with the possibility of a conflict between Moscow and NATO, he stated that “everything is possible” in the modern world. “A conflict between Russia and NATO will mean that we are one step away from the Third World War [...] There are NATO soldiers in Ukraine (...) and nothing good for them, they are dying there in large numbers,” the president stressed.

Putin also commented on the “expected reaction” of Western countries to his victory. “The reaction of some foreign countries is expected. What did they want them to do, to stand up and applaud? After all, they are fighting against us, and by armed means,” he said. “They want to slow down our development. Of course they'll say anything,” he added.

During his speech, he addressed the situation in the Taiwan Strait, recalling that the homonymous island “is undoubtedly part of the People's Republic of China”.

He also revealed that he was willing to exchange former Russian political activist Alexei Navalny, who died in prison last month while serving a sentence for extremism, with Russians detained in the West.

The president explained that, a few days before Navalny's death, he discussed the idea of an exchange of the former activist. “The man who was speaking to me hadn't finished his sentence yet, and I said, 'I agree. ' But, unfortunately, what happened happened,” he said.

Mazo News Team