Russian President Vladimir Putin claims vote proves public support for policies

Russia President Vladimir Putin (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

President Vladimir Putin has thanked Russians for casting ballots in a presidential vote in which he cemented his grip on the country for another six years after the harshest crackdown on dissent since Soviet times.

Any public criticism of Mr Putin or his war in Ukraine has been stifled, independent media have been crippled, Mr Putin’s fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month and other opposition activists are either in jail or in exile.