Vladimir Putin declared an unsurprising victory tonight calling for a 'stronger and more effective Russia' as he continues to eye up a new world order and unleash plans to challenge Western dominance.

Despite 'Noon Against Putin' protests being held in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Russian embassies across the world, the despot took to the capital to celebrate the landslide vote and call for those who spoilt their ballots to be prosecuted. He took aim at the West claiming the presence of its troops in Ukraine could lead the globe to the brink of World War Three before suggesting no one was interested in this option. The election win - which could have been declared before a single ballot box was checked - means the Russian President's reign of domestic repression and confrontation with the West will continue until at least 2030. If he is allowed to rule the next six years, it means that history-buff Putin will be the longest serving Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.

Ever since the little-known KGB agent secured victory on New Year's Eve 1999 he has consolidated power by bringing oligarchs to heel and banning any real opposition - turning Russia into an authoritarian state. Appointed by his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, his first few years in office saw an economic boom in Moscow as the country cashed in on its vast energy resources before he started cracking down and outlawing all forms of dissent. It was the Kremlin leader's largest ever election victory according to exit polls and official results by state-run companies putting almost 88 per cent of the vote towards him. His landslide election comes after his most prolific critic Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison colony last month under suspicious circumstances - with many, including his grieving widow, claiming Putin was to blame.

Other opponents of the tyrant are also facing lengthy prison sentences or have been forced to flea in exile. In recent years the 71-year-old autocrat has tried to tighten his grip on the west, spearheading efforts to challenge its dominance. His grip on power tightened further after he invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with public dissent against the war effectively silenced through court proceedings and imprisonment. He risks becoming defined by the war in Ukraine which has cost many thousands of lives - including Russian troops - and led to unprecedented Western sanctions that have created major tensions within the Russian economy. Large anti-war protests were held in the days after he ordered troops into Ukraine in the early hours of February 24 2022 but these were quickly quashed.

Demonstrators began to rise again, however, after the government was forced to announce a part mobilisation when it failed to topple Ukraine's government in the opening of the offensive. The most serious challenge to Putin's long rule came in June 2023, when Yevgeny Prigozhin, a long-time ally and head of the Wagner mercenary group, announced a mutiny to unseat Russia's military leadership. The bloody uprising threatened to tarnish Putin's self-created image of a strategic genius - the oppressor likes to compare himself to Peter the Great, the reform-minded emperor who expanded Russia's borders. Just two months later - on August 23 - Prigozhin's plane exploded and plummeted out of the sky, killing all on board, many of whom were key to the Wagner uprising.

Despite the blip, Putin has continued to demonstrate his lasting power with his domestic opposition being silenced, the economy growing again and Russian military gaining ground in eastern Ukraine. Foreign travel has also resumed. With all his major critics dead, in prison or exiled, Putin sees Russian society as united behind him. 'We have already shown that we can be together, defending the freedom, sovereignty and security of Russia,' he said in a video message, while flanked by flags of the Russian tricolour and the president's state insignia. 'Today it is critically important not to stray from this path,' he said. 'The vote was a way for Russians to demonstrate their 'patriotic feelings.' Upcoming elections in the US and the European Union could also play into Putin's hands.

If Donald Trump wins the November election for the Republicans this could lead to the states taking a more sympathetic view of Russia - with less money being funneled to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the EU's election could see a rise in anti-European populist parties making gains across the continent. A report earlier this year found that across all 27 EU member states, the bloc will likely see 'a sharp right turn' during the election in June. If there is an uptake in the populists, eurosceptics and conservatives in the seats of European Parliament there could in turn be a stronger possibility of 'pro=Russian party representation in the upcoming legislature,' the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) said.

When Putin began his career at the turn of the millennium he was relatively unknown. Putin started out as an intelligence officer before embarking on a political career in the mayor's office of his native Saint Petersburg in 1991 as the Soviet Union was falling apart. In 1998 - just a year before becoming president - his predecessor Yeltsin appointed him as head of the FSB security service before making him prime minister. Strategic planning lead to Putin being nominated when Yeltsin resigned and he won his first presidential election in 2000 before securing a second victory in 2004. His political rise initially sparked hopes Russia could be reformed and would become a democratic partner to the West on the world stage.

Putin's popularity rose as the economy boomed, with the the now despot promising stability to the country still reeling from a decade of humiliation and economic chaos following the Soviet collapse. After two stints as president, Putin switched back to being prime minister in 2008 to circumvent a constitutional ban on holding more than two consecutive terms as head of state. But he kept the reins of power firmly in hand and returned to the presidency in 2012 despite pro-democracy protests in Moscow, winning a fourth term in 2018. He jailed his loudest rival, Alexei Navalny, in 2021 and kept him in prison for three years until his death under opaque circumstances in February 2024. The clampdown on his opposition ramped up after the launch of his Ukraine offensive with thousands of Russians being handed long prison sentences under newly reinforced censorship laws.

The West imposed sanctions that effectively cut off Russia from the global banking system, adding to the Russian leadership's siege mentality. In October 2023, Putin accused Europe of creating a 'new Iron Curtain' and said Russia was building 'a new world' that would not be based on Western hegemony. He has also increasingly pushed a domestic agenda of nationalism and social conservatism, including most recently laws against Russia's LGBTQ community. Persona non grata among Western leaders after the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian strongman has sought to pivot east, wooing India and China with increased energy exports. After shrinking in 2022, the Russian economy began to grow again last year despite high inflation, a weakening of the ruble and a drastic increase in defence spending.

The war failed in its initial aims to topple Ukraine's government and Russia was forced into a series of humiliating setbacks by the determined defence of the much smaller Ukrainian army. Now the conflict is in its third year - with Putin, who could be in power until 2036, speaking with increased confidence on the battlefield, a topic he avoided for many months previously. Many, however, think the despot who claims to hold the key to Russia's security and prosperity is only creating conditions for its downfall.

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