Putin wins Russia election in landslide with no serious competition

A man casts his ballot at a polling station during the presidential election in the Chechen capital Grozny, Russia, March 16, 2024. REUTERS/Chingis Kondarov

MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin won a record post-Soviet landslide in Russia's election on Sunday, cementing his already tight grip on power in a victory he said showed Moscow had been right to stand up to the West and send its troops into Ukraine.

Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel who first rose to power in 1999, made it clear that the result should send a message to the West that its leaders will have to reckon with an emboldened Russia, whether in war or in peace, for many more years to come.