The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, celebrated this Sunday night the result of an election that gave him victory, with a big difference compared to the rest of the candidates. “First of all, I want to thank the Russian citizens. We are all one team. All citizens who went to the polling stations and voted,” Putin said in a speech after the count.

He highlighted that the high turnout, the highest since 1991, is closely linked to the war in Ukraine. “This is related to the fact that we are forced, in the literal sense of the word, to defend the interests of our citizens with weapons in hand.”, he claimed. Regarding the challenges, he stressed that the priority is “to achieve the objectives within the framework of the special military operation and strengthen the Armed Forces.”

The Russian leader assured this Sunday that he approved the exchange of the opposition leader, Alexei Navalni, days before he died suddenly in an Arctic prison, of which his coreligionists directly accuse him. “Believe me or not. The man who spoke to me had not finished the sentence and I already said: I agree. But unfortunately what happened happened“said Putin, who for the first time pronounced Navalny’s name.

He explained that someone who does not belong to the presidential administration – Navalni’s allies mentioned the tycoon Román Abramovich – proposed to exchange the opponent for Russians imprisoned in European countries. “But with one condition I accepted it: we exchanged it, but May it not come back again. Let her stay there. But that’s life“he said. Putin alluded to “Mr. Navalny” and described his death in a prison in the Arctic Circle as “a sad event.”

Likewise, when speaking directly about the war, Putin warned that NATO soldiers are already fighting in Ukraine and They die “in large numbers” on the battlefield. “Soldiers from NATO countries are present there. We know it,” he said. He assured that the Russian soldiers hear them speaking in French and English, which, he said, “is not good at all, especially for them, since they die.” “And they do it in large quantities,” he added.

Regarding a possible conflict between Russia and the Atlantic Alliance, he responded that “In today’s world anything is possible.”. “Everyone understands that this will put us one step away from a full-scale World War III. I don’t think anyone will be interested in this,” he said. In turn, he did not rule out that the Russian Army will have to create a “sanitary zone” (security zone) in the territory under kyiv’s control in the northeastern region of Kharkiv to reduce attacks on Russian territory.