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Election victory will let Putin flex muscles more

 
Russian President Vladimir Putin gives his annual state of the nation address in Manezh in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, March 1, 2018. Putin set a slew of ambitious economic goals, vowing to boost living standards, improve health care and education and build modern infrastructure in a state-of-the-nation address. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) XAZ110
Russian President Vladimir Putin gives his annual state of the nation address in Manezh in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, March 1, 2018. Putin set a slew of ambitious economic goals, vowing to boost living standards, improve health care and education and build modern infrastructure in a state-of-the-nation address. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) XAZ110
Published March 19, 2018

MOSCOW — A day after his not-at-all-surprising landslide win in Russia's presidential election, Vladimir Putin slipped comfortably into a favored role Monday: that of the magnanimous victor.

In an ornate conference room deep inside the Kremlin, with golden draperies as a backdrop, the 65-year-old leader, now set to remain in power until at least 2024, personally welcomed those he had vanquished in Sunday's balloting, treating them with elaborate politesse.

"Let's hear what you have to say, please," he told them.

But the Kremlin-distributed video of the meeting, shown on state television, cut away before their responses could be heard.

In his moment of triumph, Putin, whose aggressive style is popular with his compatriots, made it clear that he planned to use his latest electoral mandate — his largest yet, by the official count — to impose his will, both at home and on the international stage.

The Central Election Commission said Monday that with virtually all the ballots counted, Putin won nearly 77 percent of the vote. Only one of Putin's seven challengers, Pavel Grudinin, broke into double digits, garnering 11.9 percent of the vote, the commission said.

Putin's showing was almost certainly bolstered by his main rival, Alexei Navalny, being prevented from running because of a 2013 fraud conviction Navalny says was politically motivated, and, according to government critics, because brazen ballot-stuffing was ignored.

Russia's relations with the West may be at post-Cold War lows, but after his win, Putin's rhetoric on international relations was carefully affable. Moscow, he said, "will seek to develop constructive relations" with adversary and ally alike.

Even as Putin spoke, however, European allies were expressing solidarity with Britain over the brazen poisoning this month of a former Russian spy who was living in the quiet English provincial city of Salisbury. Prime Minister Theresa May and others have placed the blame on Russia.

At a news conference in Brussels on Monday, NATO's secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, flanked by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, denounced what he called the Kremlin's longtime pattern of "reckless behavior."

But Putin was nonchalant about the accusation that Moscow had used a military-grade nerve agent to try to assassinate turncoat Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, 66, and his visiting daughter, Yulia, 33.

"It would be rubbish, drivel, nonsense, for Russia to embark on such an escapade on the eve of a presidential election," the president told reporters after results pointed to an overwhelming victory.