President Zardari congratulates Vladimir Putin on election victory

The President House has congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his landslide reelection to the president office for the fifth consecutive term.

Conveying his wishes for his Russian counterpart, President Asif Ali Zardari reaffirmed flourishing Islamabad's ties with Moscow.

In its statement issued on Tuesday via X — formerly Twitter, the President House's statement quoting President Asif Ali Zardari, read: "My heartiest felicitations to the President of the Russian Federation H.E Vladimir Putin on his victory in Presidential elections."

The President's message further stated: "I am confident that relations between Pakistan and Russia will grow further under your dynamic leadership."

Putin, on March 17, won a record 88% of vote in Russia’s presidential election, cementing his grip on power, while thousands of opponents staged a symbolic noon protest at polling stations.

Putin, who came to power in 1999, seemed to have easily won a new six-year term that would enable him to overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia’s longest-serving leader for more than 200 years.

Putin won 87.8% of the vote, the highest-ever result in Russia’s post-Soviet history, an exit poll by pollster FOM showed. The Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) put Putin on 87%. First official results indicated the polls were accurate.

The election came just over two years since Putin triggered the deadliest European conflict since the Second World War by ordering the invasion of Ukraine. He casts it as a “special military operation”.