“We have won!” Mr. Putin, tears streaming down his right cheek, told a throng of tens of thousands of his supporters on Manezh Square, just outside the Kremlin walls.
Mr. Putin had won 64.7 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said, comfortably above the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.
His closest challenger, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, had slightly more than had 17%; the other three candidates -- including billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team -- were running in the single digits.
"We have won an open and honest fight," Putin told the cheering and flag-waving supporters who had braved the cold in Manezhnaya Square for hours to hear his expected victory speech. The results show "that our people are ready for renewal, and have only one aim."
"We are appealing to all people to unite for our people, for our motherland, and we will win," he said. "We've had a victory! Glory to Russia!"
Since the December ballot, Russia's more than 90,000 voting stations have been outfitted with web cameras to monitor voting and ballot counting. Tens of thousands of people have volunteered to be election observers.
“We have gained a clean victory!” he said, standing next to Dmitri A. Medvedev, whom he chose to succeed him as president just over four years ago, and who now, in a job swap, has been promised the post of prime minister. “We won!” Mr. Putin said. “Glory to Russia!”
The Kremlin held out an olive branch to Russia's opposition Monday before protesters take to the streets to challenge Vladimir Putin's victory in a presidential election they said was a "declaration of war."
Medvedev, who will stay in office until early May and is expected to swap jobs with Putin, told the prosecutor general to study the legality of 32 criminal cases including the jailing of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Khodorkovsky, who headed what was Russia's biggest oil company, Yukos, and was once the country's richest man, was arrested in 2003 and jailed on tax evasion and fraud charges after showing political ambitions and falling out with Putin.
The Kremlin said Medvedev had also told the justice minister to explain why Russia had refused to register a liberal opposition group, PARNAS, which has been barred from elections.
The order followed a meeting last month at which opposition leaders handed Medvedev a list of people they regard as political prisoners and called for political reforms.
Medvedev's initiatives "have only one goal: To at least somehow lower the scale of dismay and protest that continues to surge in society," Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
Putin's win was never in doubt as many across the vast country still see him as a guarantor of stability and the defender of a strong Russia against a hostile world, an image he has carefully cultivated during 12 years in power.
Putin, 59, said the election showed that "our people can easily distinguish a desire for renewal and revival from political provocations aimed at destroying Russia's statehood and usurping power."
Sources:
The Globe and Mail
The WenatcheeWorld
CBC News
NYTimes.com
UTSanDiego
smh.com
StamfordAdvocate
CNN.com
Reuters
Mr. Putin had won 64.7 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said, comfortably above the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.
His closest challenger, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, had slightly more than had 17%; the other three candidates -- including billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team -- were running in the single digits.
"We have won an open and honest fight," Putin told the cheering and flag-waving supporters who had braved the cold in Manezhnaya Square for hours to hear his expected victory speech. The results show "that our people are ready for renewal, and have only one aim."
"We are appealing to all people to unite for our people, for our motherland, and we will win," he said. "We've had a victory! Glory to Russia!"
Since the December ballot, Russia's more than 90,000 voting stations have been outfitted with web cameras to monitor voting and ballot counting. Tens of thousands of people have volunteered to be election observers.
“We have gained a clean victory!” he said, standing next to Dmitri A. Medvedev, whom he chose to succeed him as president just over four years ago, and who now, in a job swap, has been promised the post of prime minister. “We won!” Mr. Putin said. “Glory to Russia!”
The Kremlin held out an olive branch to Russia's opposition Monday before protesters take to the streets to challenge Vladimir Putin's victory in a presidential election they said was a "declaration of war."
Medvedev, who will stay in office until early May and is expected to swap jobs with Putin, told the prosecutor general to study the legality of 32 criminal cases including the jailing of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Khodorkovsky, who headed what was Russia's biggest oil company, Yukos, and was once the country's richest man, was arrested in 2003 and jailed on tax evasion and fraud charges after showing political ambitions and falling out with Putin.
The Kremlin said Medvedev had also told the justice minister to explain why Russia had refused to register a liberal opposition group, PARNAS, which has been barred from elections.
The order followed a meeting last month at which opposition leaders handed Medvedev a list of people they regard as political prisoners and called for political reforms.
Medvedev's initiatives "have only one goal: To at least somehow lower the scale of dismay and protest that continues to surge in society," Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
Putin's win was never in doubt as many across the vast country still see him as a guarantor of stability and the defender of a strong Russia against a hostile world, an image he has carefully cultivated during 12 years in power.
Putin, 59, said the election showed that "our people can easily distinguish a desire for renewal and revival from political provocations aimed at destroying Russia's statehood and usurping power."
Sources:
The Globe and Mail
The WenatcheeWorld
CBC News
NYTimes.com
UTSanDiego
smh.com
StamfordAdvocate
CNN.com
Reuters
