Zardari felicitates Russia's Putin on his victory in presidential elections

Zardari felicitates Russia's Putin on his victory in presidential elections

Islamabad (Web Desk/Agencies): President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday conveyed his heartiest felicitations to President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on his victory in the Presidential elections.

“I am confident that relations between Pakistan and Russia will grow further under your dynamic leadership,” President Zardari wrote in a post on his social media handle X (formerly Twitter).

Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also congratulated Vladimir Putin on the win and said he looked forward to working together to strengthen Pakistan-Russian relations.

Vladimir Putin won a record post-Soviet landslide in Russia’s election on Marach 16.

He received 87.8% of the vote, the highest-ever result in Russia’s post-Soviet history, according to an exit poll by pollster the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM).

Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel who first rose to power in 1999, made it clear that the result should send a message to the West that its leaders will have to reckon with an emboldened Russia, whether in war or peace, for many more years to come.

However, the United States (US), Germany, the United Kingdom (UK) and other nations have said the vote was neither free nor fair due to the imprisonment of political opponents and censorship.