MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. The State Secretary of the Union State, Dmitry Mezentsev, congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on winning the presidential election.
"The results declaring the people’s will is a pledge of unity from the majority of the Russian citizens, the cohesion of our multinational people around their leader, which contributes to further strengthening the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, stable and convincing development of our Motherland," Mezentsev said in his congratulation, emphasizing that the Russian president’s unwavering attention to deepening the integration processes and expanding interaction with Belarus based on mutual trust is of special importance for many generations of Russians and Belarusians.
Russia held the presidential election from March 15-17. This is the first such election where votes could be cast over three days and be submitted online remotely. The e-voting system was available in about one-third of Russian regions. With 100% of ballots counted, Putin collected 87.28% of the vote, according to data from the Russian Election Commission. The turnout of 77.44% was the highest ever in Russia’s recent history.