According to the data released by the Russian Central Election Commission in the early morning of the 18th local time, among the 85% of the votes counted in the Russian presidential election, the current President Putin led other candidates by 87.19%, and actually won the presidential election.

Analysts believe that after Putin’s re-election, Russia’s domestic and foreign policies will continue, including efforts to strengthen technological autonomy, promote economic diversification, actively develop relations with friendly countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, and promote the development of multi-polarization in the world.

On March 18th, Putin answered questions from reporters at the campaign headquarters in Moscow, Russia. Xinhua News Agency reporter Cao Yangshe

triumph

The eighth presidential election in Russia was officially voted from 15th to 17th. Four candidates participated in the election, including current Russian President Vladimir Putin, slutsky of Russian Liberal Democratic Party, Haritonov of Russian Federation’s communist party and Da Vankov of Russian New Party.

According to the data of the Russian Central Election Commission, Putin, Haritonov, Da Vankov and slutsky won 87.19%, 4.24%, 3.99% and 3.16% of the votes in the Russian presidential election.

According to the Russian presidential election rules, the person who won more than 50% of the votes in the election was elected president, so Putin has actually won the election. The Russian Central Election Commission will confirm the results of this presidential election no later than March 28th, and announce them within 3 days after the election results are confirmed.

In the early morning of the 18th, Putin delivered a speech at the campaign headquarters, thanking all voters for their support. He said that Russia will further develop and become more solid, stronger and more efficient.

On December 14, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the "Annual Inventory" event. Xinhua News Agency reporter Bai Xueyu photo

Technical autonomy   Economic pluralism

The Russian economy gradually showed its resilience after experiencing shocks in the early stage of the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis. According to data released by the State Statistical Office of the Russian Federation in early February this year, Russia’s GDP increased by 3.6% in 2023. However, the blockade imposed by western countries on Russia in the fields of finance, investment and technology product import has brought difficulties to Russia’s long-term economic development. How to continue to hedge the influence of western sanctions is a task of Putin’s administration.

In his State of the Union address to the two houses of Parliament at the end of February, Putin said that factors such as lack of talents and insufficient advanced technology may lead to a slowdown in economic growth. Therefore, the state will vigorously strengthen the development of education, science and technology, and make technological autonomy the driving force for industrial upgrading, so as to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the Russian economy.

He proposed that by 2030, the share of Russian high-tech products and services in the domestic market should increase by 50%, and the export of non-raw materials and non-energy products should increase by at least two-thirds. Russia should have key technologies in areas related to citizens’ health and food security, and realize technological autonomy in areas that can promote sustainable economic development, such as machine tools, robots, transportation, unmanned driving, aviation, ocean, digital economy, new materials and chemistry. The investment in key areas should increase by 70%, and at least 100 new science and technology parks should be built.

Putin said that at present, non-resource industries account for more than 90% of Russia’s economic growth structure, and the Russian economy is becoming more diversified and sustainable.

Aksakov, chairman of the Financial Market Committee of the Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament), said that the Russian economy has gradually adapted to western sanctions and changed rapidly. Western oppression has prompted Russia to vigorously promote internal economic restructuring and accelerate its dependence on resources.

This is the Kremlin photographed in Moscow on February 7th. Xinhua News Agency reporter Cao Yangshe

Continue foreign policy

Russian experts believe that resisting western containment and suppression, uniting friendly countries and achieving established diplomatic goals will become the focus of Putin’s future foreign policy.

Putin once said that no matter who wins the US presidential election in 2024, the US foreign policy toward Russia is unlikely to change fundamentally, and the US will still regard Russia as its enemy.

Mu Xin, director of the Russian Political Information Center, said that Putin will continue to take a tough stance against unfriendly countries. Koltunov, an expert of the Russian Council for International Affairs, said that Russia and the United States will continue to confront each other in depth for some time to come, but both sides will still exercise some restraint to avoid accidents such as nuclear war.

Russian experts believe that Putin will continue his previous foreign policy, actively develop relations with friendly countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, expand his circle of friends, strengthen his influence in international and regional organizations and promote world multipolarization.

In addition, some analysts believe that Putin will pay more attention to the relationship between Russia and other BRICS countries in the future and expand this relationship to many fields including trade. Mu Xin believes that Russia will continue to play an important role within the framework of the BRICS cooperation mechanism and the SCO.

(Xinhua News Agency, Moscow, March 18th   Reporter Chen Ting   Liu Kai   An Xiaomeng)