Those arrested included Sergei Udaltsov, Ilya Yashin and prominent blogger Alexei Navalny. The three reportedly occupied a fountain in Pushkin Square and refused to leave, calling for an ongoing protest along the lines of the recent Occupy Wall Street protests. All three were later released.

Also arrested, at a different protest earlier in the day, was serial arrestee Eduard Limonov.

As well as the notables listed above, another 250 people were arrested in Moscow and around 300 in St Petersburg. Most were later released.

Several journalists from major news sources were also arrested briefly before being released. They included reporters from Kommersant and Russian State news agency RIA Novosti as well as Alexander Zemlianichenko, head of AP’s Moscow Bureau. The arrest of journalists has led to criticism in the press, including from citizen news agency Ridus who note that obstruction of journalists is illegal in Russia, and from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

According to the BBC, the rally at Moscow’s Pushkin Square attracted between 14,000 and 20,000 protestors. A competing pro-Putin rally across town also attracted around 14,000 people, and considerably fewer arrests. Organisers have applied to the Moscow authorities for permission to hold further rallies later in the week and at the weekend.

Despite this year’s election being the most contested for many years, Putin secured 63.64% of the votes counted, comfortably above the 50% threshold needed to avoid a second round runoff. His nearest rival, the Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov received only 17.18% of the votes, and oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, the only independent candidate in the race, came in a distant third with 7.94%.

Putin will be formally inaugurated as Russia’s President at a ceremony on 7 May 2012, where he will replace Dmitry Medvedev.

Criticism

A number of the defeated opposition candidates, including second placed Zyuganov, have claimed that the poll was rigged, and have refused to accept the election results. “I cannot recognize these elections as fair, honest and worthy,” Zyuganov told supporters. “I see no reason to congratulate anyone.”

Gennady Zyuganov refused to recognize the result

Zyuganov was backed by OSCE election observers, who noted a number of incidents of ballot stuffing. Former Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula, head of the OSCE’s delegation probably didn’t help his observers when he observed that “the point of elections is that their outcome should be uncertain.”

However, Putin claimed that his victory came after a “fair and open fight”, and was supported in his claims by Vladimir Churov, head of the Central Election Commission, who rivaled Picula for absurdity with his claim that Russian elections were the world’s freest and fairest, and that many foreign election observers were actually spies.

Golos, the independent Russian election observers who have been criticised for receiving funding from USAID, noted that this election was an improvement on December’s Duma elections, but that it was still in breach of Russian law and international election standards. It went on to note that, despite what it believed to be a significant level of fraud, its exit polls indicated that Putin had won just over 50% of the vote, which would still have been enough to secure a first round victory.

Putin’s tearful acceptance speech

Putin celebrated his victory in front of a packed crowd of supporters that, according to RIA Novosti, numbered 70,000.

“Did I promise you that we will win?”, he asked. “We have won! Glory to Russia!”

Putin’s acceptance speech also provided what will probably prove the most iconic image of the election – a shot of Putin apparently crying, wiping away a tear. Although he acknowledged that his victory was emotional, Putin also claimed that his tears were caused by the biting cold wind.

Global Reaction

The response from leaders abroad has been generally positive. As expected, China, Iran, Syria and a number of former Soviet states have offered their wholehearted congratulations.

The Governments of the US and most EU states also seemed positive. The US State Department stressed that “the election had a clear winner with an absolute majority” and promised to work with Putin in the future. EU states generally took a similarly concilliatory line.

However, while the US and EU governments might have offered a cautious welcome to Putin’s victory, opposition parties were often scathing in their criticism of the election and their own governments. In the US, Republican primary candidate Mitt Romney released a statement saying that the world had witnessed “a mockery of the democratic process” and British PM David Cameron’s offer to work with Putin was roundly criticised by the opposition.

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