As Russians expected, Vladimir Putin was the projected winner with a whopping first round victory in Sunday's presidential elections, apparently moving the usually impassive strongman to tears.

With half of ballots counted, Putin had an unassailable lead with 64 per cent of the vote according to election officials, confirming the exit polls and putting him far ahead of four other candidates for the presidency, including Communist Gennady Zyuganov, who had less than 20 per cent of the vote. Vote counting was taking place at a furious pace compared to previous presidential elections and may mostly be completed within hours.

Putin appeared outside the red brick walls of the Kremlin late Sunday with tears in his eyes to thank thousands of supporters.

"We have won. We have gained a clean victory," he said in an obvious reference to opposition claims of vote fraud that had been made earlier Sunday and in the days before the ballot. "We won. Glory to Russia."

Standing above an underground shopping centre and not far from where many Soviet cosmonauts are buried, Putin described the elections as a test of Russia's maturity that voters had passed.

But Sunday's balloting appeared to confirm deep political fissures in the country that could spell grave trouble for the former president, current prime minister and future president.

Hundreds of thousands of well-educated middle class Muscovites as well as many residents of St. Petersburg strongly repudiated Putin on Sunday. However, an even larger majority of Russians, those living in the Urals, Siberia and the Caucasus, have handed the former KGB agent another six years in power.

Putin has led Russia as either president or prime minister since 200

jerseyboy:

wetin concern you inside?

newslive:

wetin come concern us?!

newslive:

wetin come concern us?!

islamrules:

What happened when he was there for 2 terms?

Nothing will change as usual.

Sam Milla:

Great news. The world will survive for another six years atleast. The US and France with Britain will not go bombing wherever they want.

Jemibee:

It's not because we're not russians that we should feel less concerned. It's always a good thg to be INFORMED. The difference between Failure and Success is INFORMATION, STAY INFORMED!!

Thanks for the post jare!!

naijanedu:

Watch Putin Crying victory

[flash=600,300]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTLCqIJagZY?version=3&hl=en_US[/flash]

Gerrard59:

The world will be safe in the next 6years. I laugh in safety.
Syrians are crying for help. ordinarz resolution to condmne the crack-down,ur putin blocked it. The west said they r nt entering any syria,bt the man should minimìze or stop the crackdown. russia said no. juz wished the syrians see the real devil now. After all qatar wants to even on its own send their troops into in syria,britain said no. so hu s the devil nw?
If he is that strong,where waz he when nato asked for a no-fly zone in lybia? people hu's productivity,population is going down. wat do they manufacture if not weapons? how many russians product r in ur homes nt homs? They knw they r backward. It pains to see yur rival nd foe alaways take 1st position in everytin. Am sure facebook,boeing,airbus,yahoo,goggle,twitter,apple e.t.c r al russian inventions. copy-copy people.

If he is that strong,where waz he when nato asked for a no-fly zone in lybia? people hu's productivity,population is going down. wat do they manufacture if not weapons? how many russians product r in ur homes nt homs? They knw they r backward. It pains to see yur rival nd foe alaways take 1st position in everytin. Am sure facebook,boeing,airbus,yahoo,goggle,twitter,apple e.t.c r al russian inventions. copy-copy people.

ikanya:

Vladimir Putin's return is a big plus and a great positive for the world. Putin has been a big figure checkmating the American and Western imperialist hegemony. In my thinking, Putin must have worked very hard to forge the RUSSIA+CHINA ties in the UN Security Council. This China-Russia alliance has, as could be seen at the moment, become an affront to the oligarchic powers, America's arrogance, the evil mechanization and military diplomacy of the US and her Western allies. To the West, Putin is "a world terrorist". Time has come now for the Western World to put a stop to their terrorist acts and Putin has championed that fight.