As to Russia's result - a native pundit who I've slowly come to respect as accurate, said what's below.
[my additions in brackets]
Putin winning 87% of the vote triggers a few funny but incorrect conclusions.
"The numbers are made up" - there was no significant voter fraud detected neither by liberal opposition nor by international observers.
[ed. however,] None of the people he was "competing" against were even known to a wider public. Yes, it was done on purpose and that would be a legitimate argument.
[ed. that is: election was rigged by having only minor, unrealistic alternatives on ballot - exactly what Criminal Biden has done in Dem primaries, & would like to do for November also - if only he can jail Trump in time]
"The numbers are real and it proves that Russians are Z-ombified Putlerists". This is also wrong. The general attitude to Putin is not one of worship of the glorious leader. Far from it.
Most politically-involved people who vote Putin criticize him on daily basis. So much so that i expected them not to vote for him at all.
Yet they still do. Why? As Putin put it himself, "i'm working like a slave on a galley". Presidential post is considered to be a horrible job that only a uniquely capable individual can handle.
Ultimately, it's not about the political program or any major achievements, but "stability". Russians want politics to not interfere in their day to day life. They want all the news about the Ukrainian war and the Western economic/military onslaught to remain just that - news that you can easily turn off.
This is exactly the strategy that Putin and co are pursuing. They don't want Russians to care about politics too much or at all, and they do everything in their power to stop reality from penetrating this protective shell. Personally, i don't like it and regard it as a kind of an unhealthy hibernation but it's clearly working in their favor so far.
[ed. here, it's different from Criminal Biden whose strategy is to lie nonstop & demonize half of USA, to fake-justify jailing that half's leaders & influencers]
