Vladimir Putin’s “triumphant” re-election with over 87% shows the Russian people support the Russian president, the Kremlin said today, rejecting criticism from the US, a country which, the Russian presidency’s spokesman said, is “de facto at war” with Russia in Ukraine.

“This is an excellent result for President Putin (…) and an eloquent confirmation of the support of the population of our country for their president,” said Dmitry Peskov.

Putin was elected with 87% or 76 million votes, the most anyone has ever received in post-Soviet Russia, according to official results. Participation reached 77%, also the highest percentage since the breakup of the USSR.

The White House has commented that Russian elections are “clearly neither free nor fair” after Putin jailed political opponents and barred others from running.

“We strongly disagree with this US assessment. Such assessments are expected and predictable, given that the de facto US is a country deeply involved in the war in Ukraine. It is a country that is, in fact, at war with us,” Peskov said. “It’s not a view we’re ready to listen to, it’s not even important to us,” he added.

If the West wants to talk about illegal Russian elections, that would mean implying that 87% of the votes in favor of Putin were illegal, which, according to Peskov, would be “ridiculous”.

When asked about calls from Russian opposition activists to have the election declared illegal, Peskov replied that people like Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of dissident Alexei Navalny, have lost touch with Russia. “There are many people who have completely severed their ties with their homeland. The Yulia Navalnaya you mentioned is increasingly moving in this direction,” he said. Such people “lose their roots, their ties to the homeland, their understanding of the homeland and stop feeling the pulse of their country,” he added.

Neutral zone

The Kremlin hinted today that it believes the only way to protect Russian territory from Ukrainian attacks is creating a neutral zone which would bring Russian areas beyond the range of Ukrainian fire.

President Putin alluded to that possibility in his re-election speech on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters about Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks, Peskov said measures must be taken to protect infrastructure and homes. “This can only be ensured by creating some kind of neutral zone so that any means the enemy uses to hit us is out of range,” he added.

In his speech, Putin did not rule out the creation “when we consider it appropriate” of such a zone in territories currently controlled by Ukraine. He did not elaborate, saying only that it would have to be large enough to prevent foreign weapons systems from hitting Russian territory.

This comment was made while answering the question whether he considers it necessary for Russia to occupy the Kharkov region, which borders Belgorod. Russian forces attempted to capture this area in February 2022 but were repulsed by a Ukrainian counterattack in September of the same year.