Putin’s Friends Celebrate Re-Election With Photos of Mass Hanging

Russian President Vladimir Putin continued to maintain his unrelenting grip on power through the latest sham election, in which none of the other contenders had any hopes, plans or even dreams of winning. The only peace candidate, Boris Nadezhdin, was threatened by top pro-Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov and prevented from participating in the election. Some of his supporters are now being arrested and their homes are being searched by law enforcement. The main opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, died suddenly in prison, just in time for Putin’s big show.

Leonid Slutsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), who ended up in the last place, hammered home the obvious, as he said during a TASS press conference, “In these elections, the main point is not victory but participation.” Slutsky added, “This percentage—the difference between the three candidates—does not matter in the slightest. It matters that we participated in the historic campaign for the Russian presidential election, which once again confirmed the authority of the leader of the nation.”

State media’s coverage consisted of jubilant proclamations, juxtaposed with violent threats to any opponents of Putin’s regime—foreign and domestic. Appearing on Monday’s broadcast of a state TV show 60 Minutes, State Duma member Oleg Matveychev proclaimed, “These elections were truly unprecedented and, by the way, legitimate.” He added, “The result is unprecedented and historic! People came, first and foremost, to support our guys that are now fighting on the frontlines. Everyone saw their vote as a shot towards the enemy.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.