Many countries will not congratulate Putin, but will still consider him Russia's president - expert Denysenko

He said this on Espreso TV.

"We must understand what these elections mean for Putin. I have repeatedly said that this election is not about war, this election is not about Putin's fifth term - this election is about Putin's and the Kremlin's lifetime presidency, and he is now going to go "forward feet", this is the election of an emperor. Actually, as they planned, the election of the emperor should have taken place with a turnout of almost 80%, and 85% to 90% of the votes in favor of Putin," Denysenko said.

As he noted, the so-called elections in Russia should show total support for the local dictator.

"Of course, these elections in Russia will be recognized as legitimate, of course, many countries will not congratulate Putin, but they will still consider him president. In the future, sooner or later, this regime will start to crack, and questions will arise about the illegitimacy of the Constitutional amendments that allow voting now. Because we can already say that it is even theoretically impossible to conduct a fair vote count," the journalist emphasizes.

According to the expert, many polling stations have spoiled ballots, booths, and falsifications.

"In fact, several observers came from all African countries. Indeed, there is a mission from China, which will basically make some very general statement, but they are well aware that there is no legitimization of Putin in the West, the kind he dreamed of before. That is, now the entire state machine of the Russian Federation is working on two things: first, to minimize the riots that we see now at the polling station, and yesterday a statement was made that they plan to introduce a penalty of up to eight years in prison for pouring paint on ballots," Denysenko explains. - "On the other hand, their entire diplomatic machine is working to ensure that the maximum number of top officials, at least from African countries, arrive, because for Putin it will be an absolute failure what happened last year at the St. Petersburg forum, which was attended by only one president."

• Ukraine has called on the international community not to send observers to the temporarily occupied territories, and on the media not to call the sham process "elections". The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine emphasizes that holding "elections" of the President of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine is illegal and will not have any legal consequences.
• From March 11 to 15, early voting for the Russian president took place in the temporarily occupied territory of Luhansk region, intended for residents of communities remote from the so-called polling stations.
• Britain's envoy to the OSCE, the UN Secretary General and the UN Security Council have condemned Putin's sham elections in Ukraine's occupied territories, calling them illegal.