Russia elections – live: Putin declares sham victory as thousands join Navalny widow for protests

Yulia Navalnaya, who had endorsed her late husband’s call to flock to the polling stations for the “Noon Against Putin” campaign, waited in line for six hours outside the Russian embassy in Berlin before casting her vote.

She told crowds after she left the building that she had written her husband’s name on the ballot, having waited in a line more than a kilometre long and which snaked through multiple streets.

Vladimir Putin has said Alexei Navalny’s name for the first time in more than a decade as he declared his victory in the rigged presidential elections.

“As concerns Mr Navalny. Yes, he passed away. This is always a tragic event, but there were other events when people in prison died. Hasn’t that happened in the US? Of course it has,” Putin said.

It is widely suspected that Russian authorities killed Mr Navalny last month in the Arctic Circle penal colony where was being held on trumped up charges of extremism.

Putin added that his officials had passed on an offer to release Mr Navalny in a swap, without providing evidence, days before he died.

“It happens,” he said. “What can you do? That’s life.”

The British foreign and defence ministers have condemned Russia’s presidential elections as exit polls suggest Vladimir Putin has won a landslide victory.

“The polls have closed in Russia, following the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, a lack of choice for voters and no independent OSCE monitoring,” said foreign secretary Lord David Cameron. “This is not what free and fair elections look like.”

Defence minister Grant Shapps said: “Putin has stolen another election, but he will not steal Ukraine.

“The UK will work with our allies to stop this thief by increasing our collective support for Ukraine. As history shows, we have to stop dictators & autocrats, or they go on to steal even more.”

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of opposition figure Alexei Navanly, has thanked the thousands who came out to support the ‘Noon Against Putin’ campaign today on the last day of the rigged Russian elections.

“Thank you very much, wonderful, best people who stood with me today from 12 noon for a whole 6 hours side by side in line at the polling station,” she sai.

“Thank you for coming – crying, laughing. Thank you for endlessly shouting ‘Yulia, we are with you’ and ‘Navalny’ and telling me that I gave you back hope. In fact, of course, it’s the other way around, it’s not me, but you who give me hope that everything is not in vain, that we will still fight.

“Thank you to all of you who came out in every city around the world. You are my support and support. I love you all very much.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described Vladimir Putin as “sick with power” as the Kremlin claims the Russian leader has just won a landslide victory in the presidential elections.

The German Foreign Office has condemned the presidential elections in Russia, which are due to conclude shortly and will almost certainly result in Vladimir Putin resuming office for a fifth term, as “neither free nor fair”.

In a statement on X, the ministry wrote: “The pseudo-election in #Russia is neither free nor fair, the result will surprise nobody. Putin’s rule is authoritarian, he relies on censorship, repression & violence.

“The ‘election’ in the occupied territories of #Ukraine are null and void & another breach of international law.”

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has congratulated Vladimir Putin as exit polls suggest that the autocrat has won more than 87 per cent of the presidential vote.

“Congratulstions to all Russia’s enemies on Vladimir Putin’s brilliant victory in the election of the President of the Russian Federation!” Medvedev wrote on X. “And a thank you to friends for the support.”

The first results for the Russian presidential election, widely suspected to be rigged, have been published for the occupied territories of Ukraine.

Footage has shown armed soldiers escorting Ukrainian civilians to the polling stations in the four regions Vladimir Putin illegally annexed in Ukraine in September 2022. Kyiv says they are being intimidated into voting for the man that ordered the invasion of their homes.

Authorities have claimed that Putin won 95.23 per cent in Donetsk region, 94.12 per cent in Luhansk, 92.95 per cent in Zaporizhzhia and 88.12 per cent in Kherson. They say all the votes have been counted.

These are not a genuine reflection of support for Putin in the occupied territories, rather they are a sign of how Russia is trying to project popularity.

The first exit polls have suggested that Vladimir Putin has won roughly 87.8 per cent of the presidential vote.

These projections were published by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM).