vladimir putin was re-elected as the president of russia for a new fifth term. in moscow , putin's victory is called brilliant, but the west says that it was pseudos. however, what could the next 6 years look like for ukraine and the rest of the world with putin re-elected? this is what jafer umerov will be talking about in the next 15 minutes of the bbc broadcast, in the studio in london. already in his fifth term as president of russia. for the first time, vladimir putin won the elections back in 2000, and before that he was little known even to russians at that time, he served as president for several months after resignation of boris yeltsin. celebrating

his victory, putin addressed a rally of thousands of his supporters in the center of moscow today, where he said that his election victory will, quote: make russia stronger. he called the occupied regions of ukraine novorossiya and declared that crimea, annexed 10 years ago, had allegedly returned home. and according to the data of the russian cec, more than 87% voted for putin. by the way, the turnout is also a record. more than 77 russian citizens voted in these elections, some observers say in this way, the kremlin wanted to show that putin has support among russians for his aggressive policy towards ukraine and the west. about the western reaction a little later. first, whether to expect any changes from putin's rule now, whether the next term of putin's presidency will be different from the previous one. the bbc's moscow correspondent steve rosenberg continues. at his press conference on the occasion of

his election victory, one could sense that he was becoming an increasingly confident leader. a leader who understands that he has been in power for almost a quarter of a century and just got more six years, and that he will become the longest-reigning russian leader since catherine ii in the 18th century. a leader who is confident that he built a political system that guaranteed him this fifth term. so how will he use his victory, what will putin's fifth term look like? to be honest, i don't think that putin in the fifth term will be very different from putin in the fourth term. i assume that what you are watching now is what will happen in the future. the direction of movement of russia is sufficient clear. i think we should expect a continuation of the confrontation. with the west,

the continuation of the war in ukraine, further repression and indoctrination in russia, as well as increased repression. russia held elections not only within its borders, but also in the occupied ukrainian territories, and, for example, this is how the voting in avdeivka, which the russians captured a month ago, looked like. the british foreign ministry emphasized the illegality of such actions, and president zelenskyy called it a crime by the russians. head department. intelligence reported that russia forces ukrainians in the occupied territories to participate in elections through pressure and intimidation. and what does the world say about these elections? western countries say with almost one voice: the elections cannot be called free or fair, and the result does not reflect the true will of the russians. for example, the british foreign minister , david cameron, reminded of the lack of choice and the lack of a proper one.

osce monitoring. he added that fair and free elections do not look like that. and the spokeswoman of the white house, too called these elections unfree and dishonest and mentioned the imprisoned opponents of vladimir putin. and volodymyr zelensky called putin a dictator who is sick of power and will do anything to rule forever. putin's victory was predictably congratulated by the leader of north korea, kimchenin. this was reported by the north korean state media. in china , putin's victory was also welcomed, the representative of the chinese foreign ministry said that under the leadership of putin and shizenpin, relations between their countries will continue to develop. ben noble, royal russia expert of the institute of international relations predicts what the rest of the world can expect from putin's fifth term as russian president. there are people who are ardent supporters of putin, but there are also those who hate him. and importantly, there is

a large group in the middle, with an ambivalent attitude toward putin. and the kremlin managed to present itself to this large group. putin has no alternative. leader, that's why so many people went to the elections precisely because of this, if not putin, then who? the kremlin will continue to demonstrate that putin is still around in the center of politics, and therefore will remain in power for many years. i think we will see an even bolder putin. this is a man who will now have another six years in power. and then, thanks to the changes he made to the constitution in 2020, he can... flounder again in year 30 to stay in power until year 36, when he'll be 83. i think we're going to see an even uglier russia inside, which, despite everything, will still support the war against ukraine. and

we talk more about the significance of these elections with journalist vitaly portnikov. he is with us should be in touch. i congratulate you, vitaliy. russia is talking about a record. the numbers, both with the number of votes that putin received and with the turnout among russians, all of these are official, from official sources, we do not have independent sources from russia, so in your opinion, why are these numbers right now, why are they talking about these record highs ? i think that this is connected with the efforts of the deputy head of the administration of the president of russia , serhii kirienko, who is now responsible for internal politics in the administration, so he convinced putin that such figures will be beneficial for... the further presentation of the regime, and these are simply these figures that vladimir putin and serhii kybiyenko have agreed upon, they have nothing to do with elections, democracy, any procedures, it's just that if you and i met somewhere in a pub and decided that we need such and such numbers to tell someone how many

glasses, beer or cider we drank there, well, it is not known whether we drank them, maybe we did not drink anything at all, we drank tea with you, but we want someone to think that we drink 45 glasses each, that we heroes. this establishment, well we told everyone else about it, given that we can't be checked and we are masters of public opinion we can say whatever we want , there is no alternative pub if you will, everyone agrees that we are reporting that a result that is convenient for us, this is not a story about democracy, this is a story about the desire of a certain person to look the way they want, what do you think this result meant? what are the possible consequences for ukraine? no, it has absolutely nothing to do with the war with ukraine, because they themselves elections in russia are a ritual that simply, let's say, reset putin's powers for another period, this was done

before and did not change the political situation in the russian federation itself, even when the president changed in russia, as you remember, it was once in these 20... four years and dmytro medveev became the president, this did not prevent the war with georgia in 2008, so it is not necessary to somehow draw conclusions from the fact that something will change in connection with the presidential elections of the russian federation, they do not affect anything, therefore that this is not an election in a democratic country, it is a ritual, if you will, of the consecration of the master of the state, russia by and large is just such a non-constitutional monarchy, and in this regard. the powers of the president of the russian federation are no different from the powers of some monarch in the country of the persian gulf. we do not ask what happens in connection with the fact that the monarch celebrates his birthday there or some other ceremony or some other national holiday. he rules, rules

until he dies. well, the same thing happens with authorities in russia. this is essentially a monarchy. well, yes, and at the same time, the russian authorities are talking about all these record numbers in these elections. at the same time... the russian opposition called on russians who are dissatisfied, dissatisfied with putin, to protest against putin at noon, that is, at noon on sunday, they should come to the polling stations and join the queue, spoil the ballot or vote not for putin. what do you think about this form of protest in russia? i consider her schizophrenic, both on the territory of russia and outside russia, because if you participate in a vote at all that is not a vote, you legitimize it. if you vote for a candidate other than putin, you will not change the situation in any way, because today we saw all these candidates, all of them, putin, davankov, kharitonov, and slutsky, the celebration of the ten-year occupation of crimea, and they all said the same words, that is, there were four putins in terms

of policy principles, if you will, and the approach to the main points, to the existential points of the policy of the russian state, by the way, so i believe that every person who came to the polls. precinct, she legitimized this very system of unconstitutional monarchy, no matter who she voted for and no matter what she spoiled there. thank you, thank you vitaliy, journalist vitaliy portnikov was in touch with us. thank you again. and we will talk more about the official reaction of ukraine and the elections in the territories occupied by russia with my colleague, bbc correspondent zhanna bespiachuk. i congratulate you, zhanna, what was the reaction of the ukrainian authorities to these elections in russia, were there any illusions about the possible the results of this election? congratulations, jefe, the expected reaction of the ukrainian. president volodymyr zelenskyi's reaction to these presidential elections in the russian federation was the least

diplomatic of all european leaders' reactions. he called it an imitation of another election. he said that vladimir, that vladimir putin is sick of power, that he can resort to anything, just to prolong his power for life, to any evil. and what exactly. the seat of the president, that is, he does not recognize the ukrainian leader as his president, seat vladimir putin, not in the kremlin, on the dock in gas. such was the reaction of the ukrainian leader to these elections, which in other european countries and in the united states of america are recognized as undemocratic and unfree, and actually now for the ukrainian side, for the ukrainian. it is also important for the authorities how they will address vladimir putin,

this is the very question of whether they will call him the president of the russian federation, or whether they will address him as, say, alexander lukashenko, that is, by his first name and last name and not mention his position , because there are enough reasons, enough evidence that these elections in russia should be considered. illegitimate, they took place under conditions of repression against vladimir putin's opponents, under conditions of censorship, under conditions of removal from the electoral process of those politicians who express anti-war views, and of course , accordingly, as a consequence of the question of whether he can continue to be called the president of the russian federation, well and in the end, the ukrainian authorities should like it. the fact that one after another european politicians said that they would not

welcome vladimir putin, and likewise, the spokesman of the white house confirmed that the united states of america will not officially congratulate vladimir putin on the results of these elections. these elections were also held in the ukrainian territories currently occupied by russia. the ukrainian authorities reacted to this. russians they say that the majority there voted precisely for vladimir putin, so how did this vote go? eh, it is worth starting with the fact that there are already clear statements from the european partners, allies of ukraine, that the elections are invalid, that is, this is a stricter assessment than illegitimate elections, not valid elections, this is the first thing, and this is the most important thing, secondly, as we saw, in avdiivka, the elections took place surrounded by machine gunners, armed people, in

their presence, they checked ukrainian passports, residents of avdiivka, people, those who remain there are citizens of ukraine who are in the territories temporarily occupied by russia, such is the international legal status of these territories, that is, in general, in such conditions it is impossible to talk about choice, about will. the phenomenon that the president of the state was elected, this surely, the most important thing, if we talk about exactly how it happened, and avdivka is not the only such example, is the reality of other occupied territories, the presence of machine gunners and people with weapons during the manifestation of will and the complete absence of the secret of manifestation of will, but in addition to this there is more long-term consequences, that is, for ukrainians who remain. subscribe to our pages on social networks so as not to miss

the most important news, we are on facebook, instagram and tiktok, you can watch our episode on youtube if you missed it on the air and that's all for today, we'll be back on the air tomorrow at 9 p.m., take care. greetings, friends, live on the espresso tv channel, the second part of the verdict program , my name is serhiy rudenko, in the second part of our program we talk about russians voting not only for putin, but also for the war with ukraine, about how trump called zelensky the best salesman, and lukashenko

scared belarusians with a nuclear war. let me remind you that during our broadcast we conduct survey, we are asking you today about the following: will the world recognize the legitimacy of putin after pseudo-elections in the temporarily occupied territories of ukraine. yes, no, everything is quite simple on youtube. if you have your own opinion and are ready to share it on youtube, please write it in the comments below this video. if you 're watching us on tv, pick up your smartphone and vote. if you believe that the world recognizes the legitimacy of putin after he was elected in the temporarily occupied territories of ukraine 0.8. 211 381 no 0800 211 382 all calls to these numbers are free, call, at the end of the program we will pick up the results of this vote. so, on march 17 , putin ran for the presidency of the russian federation for the fifth time, these elections can hardly be called elections, we will call them

pseudo-elections, so these pseudo-elections were without a choice. for russians, i don't know if russians need elections at all, and if they wanted elections, maybe the situation in russia would have developed in a completely different way. the kremlin drew the election result in 87% of the votes. at the same time , the voter turnout announced by the central electoral commission of the russian federation was 73%, more than 73% russian, this is the highest. indicator for all time since the collapse of the soviet union. of course, it was important for putin's team, and for putin himself, to show unity with the russian people, that the russians support him, that they give him legitimacy, that they give him the right to speak on their behalf and continue to wage

war in ukraine. casting their votes for putin, actually. it is difficult to say what percentage of russians voted for putin as the president of russia, but russians, voting for putin, voted for the war in ukraine, this is how, and not otherwise, we should perceive this action that took place in russia on march 17. russians want war, russians support the killing of ukrainians. russians vote for destruction. ukraine and here the problem is not only putin, but the problem lies with the russians themselves, russians, of whom there are more than 100 million, or about 100 million. the country-murderer, country-sadist, rapist country once again confirmed that it wants to see at the head of the state a person,

a person who has a warrant from the international criminal court, a person who gave orders for the destruction of ukrainian cities and for rape ukrainians, for the looting of ukrainians, for the purpose of turning donbass into ashes, this is vladimir putin. more than 87%, even if a part of them really did not vote for putin, but these percentages were drawn in favor of putin, this is a diagnosis. modern russia, and this is a warning to the west that russians are dangerous not only for ukrainians, but also for all those who live on planet earth. racism is dangerous for the planet earth, because this is the figure drawn by the kremlin, will

push putin to further escalate the situation in... not only in ukraine, but also in general on the european continent. putin, referring to this 87%, will do everything in order to destroy ukraine under the guise of this high trust rating, in order to provoke the countries of the north atlantic alliance into a major war. and how to stop this certified maniac? certified by russian citizens on march 17, 2024 should be considered not only by ukrainians, but also by other residents. land, someone can say that one more, say, six years, that is, six years of putin's presidency, and that's it, nothing like that

there is nothing scary , nothing, there is nothing scary about this only for putin himself, because for putin , who drew a figure of 87% for himself, the door opens to continue talking to the world from... a st. petersburg gopnik, and if someone says that 24 years in power is too much for putin, and in general for those who are in the presidential chair, then i can remind you of the story of the president of equatorial guinea teodoro obiang, hema basago, he came to power in 1979 as a result of the military. gate then several was re -elected president of equatorial guinea several times, and for 40 5 years

putin has been ruling this country for 24 years with a short break , except for the period when the so-called president of the russian federation was dmitry medvedev in 2008 and... it was understood that in this history, everyone, all, all of russia actually advocated for putin to be the president of this country to the maximum, even with all the falsifications, a large percentage of the voters of the russian federation voted for putin, and we, we understand that, of course, the people votes voted votes for putin, because they finally see a sober president of their country, a little crazy

and bent on ukra-fascism, but they are always proud of putin and say, this is our putin, this is such a man, that man has already killed tens of thousands of ukrainians , the fact that this so-called peasant is seizing other people's territories, the fact that this... so-called peasant is encouraging the russian armed forces to rape and loot ukrainians, it seems to me that some russians even like it, and even more so, they themselves participate in this action and consider themselves the only ones in the team of vladimir putin. of course, in this story of 17. 2024, we were waiting to see what those russians who oppose putin would actually do, part

of the opposition fled abroad and there they talked about what should not be done in order to protest against putin , who did not admit any real opposition candidate, who did his best to destroy the russian opposition, and what... actually we saw, we saw some kind of greenwashing of the ballots, we saw how broke these e-ballot boxes, in just two days of simulating the election of the president of russia , about 20 criminal cases were initiated in connection with these incidents at the polling stations, and more, most of those who violated them. the rules and, as they believe , the law, these were women, but cases are brought there under the article on the prevention of electoral rights,

under which there is a risk of up to five years of imprisonment, there even the fact that people spoiled the ballots immediately caused a reaction from the police, who took people's wrists and tried to hold a preventive conversation with them. deputy the head of the security council of the russian federation, dmitry medvedev, even proposed to classify the violators' actions as treason and a crime against the foundations of the constitutional order and state security, that's how, that is, they treat everyone as traitors, those who are not with us, those who are against us, that is, the usual the logic of the st. petersburg gang that is currently in power in russia, and it is this st. petersburg bank... wrote 87% of support for putin so that this st. petersburg gang would have the opportunity and legitimacy to act on behalf of the people.

of the russian federation, on behalf of it of the people, putin has already announced that in the event of a conflict between russia and the north atlantic alliance, the world will be one step closer to the third world war. let's listen to what kremlin grandfather said. i think that everything is possible in the modern world. i think anything is possible in today's world. i have already said, and it is clear to everyone, that it will be after... again threats of the third world war, again threats of nuclear weapons, again putin thunders his statements about nuclear war, although just a week ago, when he gave an interview to the propagandist dmitry jelly, he said that we will not

use nuclear power at all. weapons, especially since we never even thought about it, because nuclear weapons are a deterrent weapon for us, and now it turns out that if you touch us, then we will get nuclear weapons and we will kill you with these nuclear weapons, because i , putin was given the right to do this by 87% of russians, and this, by the way, is an example of how putin is already trying to play and already... play along in this situation and use this legitimacy, which was supposedly given to him by 87% of russians who took participation in e presidential elections or pseudo- elections, let's say this, against this background, we see how the story unfolds with russian volunteers or those who were once in...

the russian army, or who switched to the side of ukraine and are now fighting in the russian volunteer corps, in the legion of freedom of russia, as well as in the siberia battalion. literally a week before the pseudo-elections in russia, the fighters of these battalions entered the territory of the belgorod and kursk regions, and they appealed to the dictator putin to get in touch if... what's up with him courage is preserved, let's listen to what these fighters said. it is obvious to everyone that russia needs immediate and fundamental changes. in russia , the need for a deep transformation of relations between the government and the people, a frank conversation about new, fair social rules has long been overdue. if you are ready to discuss the future of our country without dictatorship and authoritarianism, we are ready for such a conversation. if you have

them saved. he has neither courage, nor responsibility, nor the desire to talk to his fellow citizens, because all these fighters are citizens of the russian federation, and putin calls them traitors who went to fight on the side of the ukrainian nazis, he compares them to the lasivtsi, he says something else there, well, in principle. understood putin's rhetoric and says that it was ukraine that did its utmost so that these volunteer battalions entered the territory of the russian federation, as putin himself explains, so that russia would then have something to exchange for something, well, that is, territories within the territory, that's what putin says, that's what he's talking about,

but... considering how fast people are fleeing from the border settlements in the russian federation about this raid and the russian volunteer corps and the russian freedom legion and the siberian battalion will be known in different regions of the russian federation, the war came to the territory of the russian federation on the 10th year of the russian-ukrainian war, but... this the war was brought to the territory of russia by the citizens of the russian federation, so we can perceive it as a civil war, that is, the citizens of the russian federation came to clarify relations with putin and his cronies, and we see the unfolding of these hostilities will these hostilities be widespread and successful? i believe that...