Machibet CasinoWorld’s despots praise Putin’s sham election ‘win’…but dictator dubbed ‘new Stalin’ & likened to insane emperor Caligula | The Sun - Mcb777 Login

THE world’s despots rushed to praise Vladimir Putin’s landslide victory in Russia's sham elections after the tyrant took 87 per cent of the vote.

The ageing ruler, 71, now dubbed the "modern-day Stalin", has brutally secured his near quarter-of-a-century rule over Russia until at least 2030.

A boastful Vladimir Putin thanked Russians for their 'support' - despite there being no real candidates for him to beatCredit: AFP

UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps called him the 'modern-day Stalin'Credit: Getty

Kim Jong-un helped to lead the congratulations for Putin securing his fifth term as presidentCredit: AP

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi was one of the first to toast to Putin's re-electionCredit: Rex

Putin cruised to an easy, predetermined victory as he was re-elected with a record 87.33 per cent of the vote after facing token challengers and suppressing opposition voters.

Last night, the brazen ruler gave a "victory speech" - thanking Russians for their "trust" and "support" and once again threatening the West with World War 3.

"No one can suppress us, they will never succeed," he vowed, while adding that "all our goals will be achieved".

Despite Putin's route to the top of the polls being never in doubt, the despot's friends abroad are busy piling on the congratulations.

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Earlier, Putin was congratulated by both the authoritarian ruler of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla.

The presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia, Nicolás Maduro and Luis Arce, joined the small repressive group hailing Putin’s overwhelming victory.

So did former Soviet states - with close ongoing relationships with Moscow - Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

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Putin's supporters appeared unbothered by the lack of real opposition candidates - all the serious challengers were wiped out before voting began - and the deep flaws in the polling process.

Anyone who could have challenged him has either been imprisoned, exiled or killed amid the harshest crackdown on opposition in Russia since Soviet times.

Beyond the fact that voters had virtually no choice, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited.

The process also involved an electronic voting system easily open to abuse that brought in eight million votes of Putin's votes.

There has been either silence or condemnation from the West, whose leaders have sent lukewarm congratulations to Putin for his past victories.

But this time around, the polls were criticised by several Western nations as neither free nor fair.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron blasted the results today, stating: "These Russian elections starkly underline the depth of repression under President Putin's regime, which seeks to silence any opposition to his illegal war."

UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps accused Putin of behaving like “a modern-day Stalin” and "stealing" the election.

Writing in The Telegraph, he slammed Putin for having his opponents such as opposition leader Alexei Navalny “imprisoned or murdered” before the vote began.

In a similar criticism, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Putin of attempting to rule "forever".

He fumed: "It is clear to everyone in the world that this figure, as it has already often happened in the course of history, is simply sick for power and is doing everything to rule forever.

"There is no legitimacy in this imitation of elections and there cannot be."

The shameless tyrant used his 'victory speech' to once again threaten the West with the spectre of WW3Credit: Rex

Vladimir Putin with the President of Venezuela Nicolás MaduroCredit: East2West

President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega sent his congratulations to PutinCredit: East2West

Putin with the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev who shared his support of the despot's re-election todayCredit: East2West

The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also branded the elections false. "This election has been based on repression and intimidation," he said.

A White House spokesman also declared last night: "The elections are obviously not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him."

Putin’s former speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov said “no one will believe” the “crazy” share of the vote declared for the dictator.

It was clear the vote was rigged, he said. “There is no need to prove anything, it is now an axiom.

“Just compare the official result with yesterday’s pictures of anti-Putin queues at polling stations, with a huge mass of photos of invalid ballots - and everything becomes clear to you.

“Putin preferred to convince critics that he was strong than supporters that he was honest,” he said.

“This is the same logic as in the case of the murder of Navalny and repressions in general…"

Referring to the infamous and bloodthirsty Roman Emperor Caligula, Gallyamov said it was “the logic of Caligula… Let them not love you, as long as they are afraid.”

He continued: “The only problem is that the Russian president can demonstrate his strength exclusively on his own - unarmed - citizens.

“And he broke his teeth on Ukrainians. So he's not very strong either.”

Among the fantastical statistics was the claim of a turnout of 99.8 per cent, including Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.

The latest backing for Putin in Chechnya was given an incredible 98.9 per cent of the vote.

At the same time, exit polls and some results showed that Russian voters abroad - not confronted by repression from the authorities - backed candidate Vladislav Davankov ahead of Putin.

Actual results of Russians voting in Belgrade found Davankov scored more than six times as many votes as Putin - 67 per cent to Putin's measly 10 per cent.

In Prague, Davankov scored 60 per cent and Putin only 16 per cent.

Even with little margin for protest, over 75 citizens were arrested as Russians crowded outside polling stations at noon on Sunday to show their dissatisfaction with the shameful elections.

They were responding to calls made by Alexei Navalny before his death last month as he asked Russians to show up to spoil their ballots or vote for another candidate.

His wife Yulia echoed his calls for the brave "noon against Putin" protests, joining throngs of protestors in Berlin herself and writing her dead husband's name on the ballot.

Across the weekend, Putin was enraged to see some brave Russians destroying ballots with ink and even throwing petrol bombs at voting booths.

In Russian embassies across the world where Putin's rule is weaker, people were able to rise up even more defiantly when going to vote.

They turned out in huge numbers and some brandished banners reading messages like "He is not a president" and "This is not an election".