LONDON
\nWestern governments lined up on Monday to condemn Vladimir Putin\u2019s landslide election victory as unfair and undemocratic, but China, India and North Korea and some other countries congratulated the veteran Russian leader on extending his rule by a further six years.
\nThe contrasting reactions underscored the geopolitical fault lines that have gaped wider since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, triggering the deepest crisis in relations with the West since the end of the Cold War.
\nArriving in Brussels on Monday, EU foreign ministers roundly dismissed the election result as a sham ahead of agreeing sanctions on individuals linked to the mistreatment and death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
\n\u201cRussia\u2019s election was an election without choice,\u201d German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at the start of the meeting.
\nPlaying on Moscow\u2019s reference to its war in Ukraine as a \u201cspecial military operation\u201d, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said Paris had taken note of the \u201cspecial election operation\u201d. \u201cThe conditions for a free, pluralistic and democratic election were not met,\u201d his ministry said.
\nBritish Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the election outcome highlighted the \u201cdepth of repression\u201d in Russia.
\n\u201cPutin removes his political opponents, controls the media, and then crowns himself the winner. This is not democracy,\u201d Cameron said.
\nFrance, Britain and others condemned the fact that Russia had also held its election in occupied regions of Ukraine that it claims to have annexed during the war.
\nThe Kremlin dismissed such criticism, saying the 87 per cent of the vote won by Putin during the three-day election showed that the Russian people were consolidating around him.
\nUkrainian President Volody\u00admyr Zelensky said Russia\u2019s election had no legitimacy.
\n\u201cIt is clear to everyone in the world that this figure (Putin)\u2026 is simply sick for power and is doing everything to rule forever,\u201d Zelensky said.
\nA White House spokesperson on Sunday said Russia\u2019s election was \u201cobviously not free nor fair\u201d.
\nPutin congratulated
\nIn sharp contrast, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Putin, and said Beijing would maintain close communication with Moscow to promote the \u201cno limits\u201d partnership they agreed in 2022, just before Russia invaded Ukraine.
\n\u201cI believe that under your leadership, Russia will certainly be able to achieve greater achievements in national development and construction,\u201d Xi told Putin in his message, according to Xinhua News.
\nIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi echoed that message, saying he looked forward to strengthening New Delhi\u2019s \u201ctime-tested special and privileged strategic partnership\u201d with Moscow.
\nIndia and China, along with Russia, are members of the BRICS group of emerging economies that aims to challenge US domination of the global economy.
\nNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Iran\u2019s President Ebrahim Raisi, accused by the West of supplying weapons to Russia, also extended congratulations to Putin, stressing their desire for further expansion of bilateral relations with Moscow.
\nIn Africa, where the West has been struggling to win support for its efforts to isolate Moscow over the Ukraine war, some newspapers saw Putin\u2019s re-election as reinforcing the stance of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
\nThose three states in the Sahel region have strengthened ties with Russia following coups in recent years at the expense of their traditional French and US allies.
\n\u201cIn Africa, this re-election could sound like a non-event, but given the context in the Sahel it takes on a particular meaning, because Putin embodies the new geopolitical balance of power on the continent with a growing (Russian) presence and influence,\u201d said Burkina Faso daily Aujourd\u2019hui au Faso.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON Western governments lined up on Monday to condemn Vladimir Putin\u2019s landslide election victory as unfair and undemocratic, but China, India and North Korea and some other countries congratulated the veteran Russian leader on extending his rule by a further six years. The contrasting reactions underscored the geopolitical fault lines that have gaped wider since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-394965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n