Putin claims election victory

Brushing off US criticism of a one-sided election campaign, Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed victory early today after voters handed him an expected landslide win for a second four-year term.

With 96.1% of precincts reporting from yesterday’s election, Putin had 71.1%. His closest challenger, Communist Nikolai Kharitonov, received 13.9%. Election officials said 61.48% of the 109 million registered voters cast ballots, surpassing the 50% required for the election to be valid.