Vladimir Putin has claimed a fifth term as Russia’s President.  

He took an early lead with 88% of the vote upon polls closing on Sunday, and the full count saw him secure the win with 87.28%. 

While several countries have congratulated Putin’s win, Europe is not under the impression that his win was fair.  

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky called Putin a power-hungry “dictator”, who is “sick from power”, Italy’s Foreign Minister said the election was “neither free nor fair”, and the Czech Prime Minister called the election a “farce parody”. 

Europe Correspondent Catherine Field told Mike Hosking that the French President went even further, saying he couldn’t congratulate someone for an election “lined with the death of those who fought for pluralism in Russia.” 

She said that there’s a lot of concern about Putin’s plans for Ukraine and Transnistria, a region of Moldova bordering Ukraine that has a high population of Russians. 

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