PARIS, Mar 18 (AFP): Friends and allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin were quick to congratulate him on his election win but Western leaders denounced what they called an illegal election.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the result as illegitimate. "Everyone in the world understands that this person, like many others throughout history, has become sick with power and will stop at nothing to rule forever," he said.
Britain's foreign minister David Cameron said the "illegal" elections featured "a lack of choice for voters and no independent OSCE monitoring", adding: "This is not what free and fair elections look like."
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the "elections were neither free nor fair".
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky called the election a "farce and parody". He said: "This was the Russian presidential election that showed how this regime suppresses civil society, independent media, opposition."
China, Iran congratulate
Putin on polls victory
Key Russian ally China on Monday congratulated President Vladimir Putin on his election victory. "China expresses its congratulations on this," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said when asked about the vote at a regular press conference.
"China and Russia are each other's largest neighbours and comprehensive strategic cooperative partners in the new era," he added.
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