The Saker — The outcome of the election in Russia explained in simple, plain, English

Here are the preliminary results with only 76% of the votes counted (but the outcome is already obvious) explained in simple, plain English:

1) Putin easily wins by a landslide and is *more* popular than ever2) The Russian Communists and Zhirinovsky have reached terminal irrelevancy3) Only 2.6% of Russians are pro-USA and generally pro-West (Sobchak+Yavlinsky)4) The entire AngloZionist anti-Putin campaign has miserably failed5) The Empire has two choices left: go to war or fold6) If the Empire choses to to go war it will face a completely united Russia

The Vineyard of the Saker
The outcome of the election in Russia explained in simple, plain, English
The Saker

Also

Speaking at his campaign headquarters, Putin discussed preliminary elections results, in which he leads with a huge margin, and disclosed views on key issues and his plans for the future.

Sputnik International

'We Need a Leap Forward': Putin Adresses Rally Amid Projected Landslide Win

Also

From Soviet comparisons to accusations of authoritarianism, mainstream coverage of Russia’s presidential election has barely changed since 2004, though mentions of the UK spy poisoning scandal did add a fresh layer of insinuation.

Western media continue sounding like Pravda and Izvestia at the time of the Cold War.

RT

‘Dictator’ Putin wins ‘fraud-tainted’ vote: Western media sticks to narrative on Russian election

Also

Sputnik spoke to Vladimir Golstein, an associate professor of Slavic Studies, on challenges facing Russia economically and politically.

Sputnik International
Russians Agree with Putin Foreign Policy, Question Domestic Policy - Expert

Also

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman says attempts to influence the outcome of the Russian presidential vote were obvious and unprecedented

TASS
Diplomat calls West’s attempts to influence presidential election 'obvious'

Gilbert Doctorow — Russia’s Presidential Election, 2018: first impressions

This is the first of three election reports which the author will publish in the coming month culminating in his findings as an officially invited international observer to the 18 March elections.

Detailed report on all candidates except Putin, who is well-known and expected to win handily.

Putin's only credible challenger seems to be Communist Party candidate, Pavel Grudinin. He is not a Communist Party member himself, but is being put forward as a unifying choice for the Left.

However, Grudinin is focused on domestic issues and has no foreign policy experience. He says he will continue the present foreign policy.  But Russians are very focused on foreign affairs, so this is a big liability for Grudinin's candidacy.

Worth a read, if just to counter the misinformation in the Western media that focuses on liberal aspirants that have minuscule appeal to Russian voters. Liberal parties have no presence in the Duma, either. Russia is a conservative and traditionalist country. Even the left is socially conservative and traditionalist.

Une parole franche
Russia’s Presidential Election, 2018: first impressions
Gilbert Doctorow | European Coordinator of The American Committee for East West Accord Ltd.

See also

See also

The website of a network of the presidential election’s public monitors, which posts latest reports on violations during the Russian presidential election, reported more than 70 hacker attacks over recent 12 hours, the project’s coordinator Roman Kolomoitsev told TASS on Friday.

"Over recent 12 hours, nom24.ru, which aggregates reports of all violations and the recent information on the election, was attacked more than 70 times," he said.

According to the originating IP-addresses, "the hacker attacks came from Sweden and the Netherlands," he continued. "We have managed to stop quite promptly those attacks."
NOM is Russia’s biggest network of independent monitors. Its target is to structure a fundamentally new infrastructure for honest and transparent elections.

TASS
Election’s public monitors report 70 hacker attacks on their site

also

The Moscow government applies DLT to local voting system; makes project code open-source on GitHub.

Cryptovest
Russian Govt. Moves Ahead With Blockchain-Based Local Voting System

Miguel Gomez , 05 December

The Saker — Hilarious (and politically incorrect!) video to encourage Russians to vote (MUST SEE!)

I laughed my head off when I saw this. So I emailed Eugenia and begged her to subtitle this in English (press “cc” to see the English subs). Not only is this video really funny, it is blissfully politically incorrect. Just see for yourself! Truth be told, the message of this video is pretty clear: vote for Putin or brace for either Commie or Western hell. In a deeper sense it also shows how most Russians feel about Soviet or Western “values”. By the way, a lot of people in Russia (Communists and liberals) were absolutely enraged by this video. Which, of course, makes it even more politically effective and delicious to watch. Enjoy! The Saker

The Vineyard of the Saker
Hilarious (and politically incorrect!) video to encourage Russians to vote (MUST SEE!)
The Saker

Anatoly Karlin — Russia Elections 2018: VCIOM Predictions Market

Anatoly Karlin reports from Moscow.

Putin is expected to win handily, but the rest of the vote does count because Putin will take the results into consideration in governing. So voting does actually send a message. 

Choosing not to vote does too, since it sends a message of citizens' political apathy and discouragement, as well as a vote for "none of the above" without actually casing it.

The Unz Review

Russia Elections 2018: VCIOM Predictions Market

Anatoly Karlin