Vladimir Putin "Inaugurated" as Leader of the Russian Federation Following Pseudo-Elections

Vladimir Putin, marking nearly 25 years in power, has been inaugurated once again as “president” of the Russian Federation. His fifth inauguration ceremony took place today, May 7.

This will be Putin’s third term ruling Russia being at war with Ukraine, with Russia annexing Crimea and invading Donbas in 2014.

Ukraine does not recognize the Russian dictator as the democratically elected president of the Russian Federation in March of this year and calls on other countries and international organizations to do the same. This is written in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, published on Monday, May 6, condemning, among other things, Russia’s illegal organization of elections on Ukrainian territories.

Most international observers criticized Putin’s overwhelming 87% victory in the presidential election. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the vote a ''pseudo-election''. Poland has stated that the presidential elections in Russia are a sham and cannot be considered legal, free, and fair.

“The illegal organization of the so-called election process in the sovereign territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation, parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson Regions, in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, with the deliberate involvement of threats and blackmail to participate was a brutal violation of generally recognized norms and principles of international law. it includes millions of Ukrainian citizens who live in temporarily occupied territories or were forcibly relocated to the territory of the Russian Federation.”

Ukraine calls on foreign countries, international organizations, and the public to follow this example, and not to recognize the results of the Russian pseudo-elections and the legitimacy of the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.