A defiant Vladimir Putin said Russia won’t be stopped from pursuing its goals after he swept to a record victory in a presidential election whose outcome was pre-determined.
"No matter how much anybody wanted to suppress us, our will, our consciousness, nobody in history has ever succeeded, they have not succeeded now and they will never succeed,” Putin told supporters in Moscow late Sunday. All the major "and in some areas grandiose plans” that he set out before the election "will certainly be achieved,” he said.
Putin spoke after preliminary results showed him with 87.2% support in the election that ended Sunday, giving him another six years as president to step up his war in Ukraine and conflict with the West. The outcome far exceeded his previous record of 77% in 2018 elections.