Putin Claims Biggest Win Yet, Saying He Has Russia's Trust

In announcing preliminary results that make Franklin Roosevelt's 1932 landslide look like a nail-biter, Russian officials said Sunday that President Vladimir Putin is on track to receive 88% of the national vote in his reelection bid. That would make his margin of victory about 10 percentage points higher than it was in 2018, the New York Times reports. Election officials put turnout at 73%. With half of the ballots counted, per Politico Europe, Putin's support was holding at 87.3%. He had no real competition in rolling up what would officially be his biggest share of the vote in his five elections, dating to 2000. Election developments involved:

• Putin's reaction: The victor told the nation late Sunday that the election results indicate its trust and hope in him, per the AP. Putin also said the election will help "consolidate society," per the Times, which was echoed on state media coverage.
• Opposition: Yulia Navalnaya stood in a mile-long, six-hour line Sunday outside the Russian embassy in Berlin to cast her ballot. It was one of the few public appearances she's made since her husband, Russian opposition leader Alekei Navalny died last month in a penal colony. Her arrival was in keeping with her husband's call for voters to show up at noon on the last day of voting as a protest. Navalnaya hugged and took photos with people who approached her, some of whom were in tears. She told reporters that she had written "Navalny" on her ballot.
• Determination: In a post on X, Navalnaya later thanked the supporters who turned out in Berlin, per Reuters. "Thank you for coming, crying, laughing. Thank you for endlessly shouting 'Yulia, we are with you' and 'Navalny' and telling me that I gave you back hope," she wrote. "In fact, of course, it's the other way around—it's you who give me hope that everything is not in vain, that we will fight on."
• Arrests: A rights group reported that police in Russia have detained more than 75 people in 17 cities on Sunday. OVD-Info did not know the reasons given for the arrests, but they could indicate shows of last-day dissent.
• Compulsory voting: In territories held by Russia, Ukrainians were compelled by armed soldiers in masks to vote, per the Washington Post. The threat was not explicit, said a local military official who nonetheless described the situation as: "Election at gunpoint. That is, violence." Holding an election in occupied territories violates international law, and the UN and 55 nations, including Ukraine, condemned it on Friday.
• World opinion: The UK's foreign secretary assessed the election in a post on X. "The polls have closed in Russia, following the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, a lack of choice for voters and no independent OSCE monitoring," David Cameron wrote. "This is not what free and fair elections look like."

(More Russian elections stories.)