Putin extends rule in Russian election after harshest crackdown since Soviet era

People watch a concert marking the 10-year anniversary of Crimea’s annexation by Russia in Red Square in Moscow Picture: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

President Vladimir Putin extended his reign over Russia in a landslide election whose outcome was never in doubt, declaring his determination Monday to advance deeper into Ukraine and dangling new threats against the West.

After the harshest crackdown on dissent since Soviet times, it was clear from the earliest returns that Mr Putin’s nearly quarter-century rule would continue with a fifth term that grants him six more years.