Setting A President

Vladimir Putin, 71, won a predictable record post-Soviet landslide victory with no serious competition in Russia's Presidential election in March 2024, giving him six more years in power. He overtakes Josef Stalin as Russia's longest-serving leader for more than 200 years. Putin said it showed Moscow had been right to stand up to the West and send troops into Ukraine. Western leaders lined up to condemn Putin's 'sham' election. "Putin removes his political opponents, controls the media and then crowns himself the winner. This is not democracy," Britain's foreign secretary David Cameron said.