...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...has secured 88 percent of the first votes counted in Russia’s presidential election, the head of Russia’s election commission says.
The early results are based on counting votes from 24.4% of polling stations, Russia’s elections chief Ella Pamfilova says, in a briefing on state TV.