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Russia's Vladimir Putin sworn in as president for a fifth term

Russian President Vladimir Putin walks before an inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia May 7, 2024. (Photo: Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)

By Reuters | Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Putin's new six-year term will see him overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia's longest-serving leader for more than 200 years if he completes it.

President Vladimir Putin was sworn in for a new six-year term on Tuesday.

Putin, in power as president or prime minister since 1999, begins his new mandate more than two years after he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, where Russian forces have regained the initiative after a series of reversals and are seeking to advance further in the east.

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At 71, Putin dominates the domestic political landscape.

Putin in March won a landslide victory in a tightly controlled election from which two anti-war candidates were barred on technical grounds.

His best-known opponent, Alexei Navalny, died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony a month earlier, and other leading critics are in jail or have been forced to flee abroad.

The United States and other Western countries stayed away from Tuesday's inauguration ceremony.

Britain, Canada and most European Union nations also decided to boycott the swearing-in, but France said it would send its ambassador.

Ukraine said the event sought to create "the illusion of legality for the nearly lifelong stay in power of a person who has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship."

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However, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Vladimir Putin on winning another term as Russia's president and said China was set to maintain close communication with Russia to promote their partnership.

"Your re-election is a full demonstration of the support of the Russian people for you," Xi said, according to Xinhua News. "I believe that under your leadership, Russia will certainly be able to achieve greater achievements in national development and construction."

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said, adding that the two heads of state would continue to maintain close exchanges.

Putin's new six-year term will see him overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia's longest-serving leader for more than 200 years if he completes it.

Putin won 87.8 per cent of the vote in March, the highest-ever result in Russia's post-Soviet history.

Communist Nikolai Kharitonov won 4.3 per cent of the vote, Vladislav Davankov of the New People party won 3.9 per cent and Leonid Slutsky, leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, won 3.2 per cent.

Putin told supporters in a victory speech in Moscow that he would prioritise resolving tasks associated with what he called Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine and would strengthen the Russian military.

"We have many tasks ahead. But when we are consolidated - no matter who wants to intimidate us, suppress us - nobody has ever succeeded in history, they have not succeeded now, and they will not succeed ever in the future," said Putin.

Putin told reporters he regarded Russia's election as democratic and said the Navalny-inspired protest against him had had no effect on the election's outcome.

While Putin's re-election was not in doubt given his control over Russia and the absence of any real challengers, the former KGB spy had wanted to show he had the overwhelming support of Russians.