Putin wins his 5th election in a row, adresses public

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited his party headquarters in Moscow on Sunday (March 17), after early results showed a landslide victory for him in the presidential election, poised him to extend his nearly quarter-century rule for six more years.

According to the Central Election Commission of Russia, Putin won about 87 percent of the vote.

Putin hailed the results and adressed the public:

"First of all I want to thank the citizens of Russia. We are all one team. All the citizens that came to polling stations and voted (applause). Once again, I want to say, this is very important, this has no formal character: the source of authority in the nation is the Russian people.

Putin later adressed the Russian troops on the Ukraine border, stating:

"And of course nowadays, in the conditions that we are live in, special words of gratitude to our warriors. The guys who are at the frontline, provide the country with the conditions for its development and existence, who do not feel sorry for themselves, risk their health and life, provide the most important task of protecting our people in the so-called new territories - in fact historical territories of Russia - and the country in general."

President Putin did not have major rivals this election, after the death of the then leader of the "Russia of the Future" party, Alexei Navalny.