Russia on Monday responded to the Western leaders’ criticism of its democracy and the March 17 elections in which the incumbent President Vladimir Putin secured a landslide victory. Kremlin published a statement in response to Germany and its allies’ decision not to call Putin as a ‘president,’ even as he was re-elected to his position for the fifth term.

In a more explicit defiance of the results of the Russian polls, the German Foreign Ministry’s official representative Sebastian Fischer stated that the department would refer to Putin in documents only by his last name.

Germany will drop out Putin’s designation, he added, “the same way we did it in the past — [only] Putin.” The German minister indicated that the European country will not officially recognise the outcome of the Russian election 2024.

Putin, although, was listed as the ‘President of Russia’ on the official website of Germany’s Foreign Ministry.

Deriding Germany in a personal capacity for its refusal to use the designation of Putin, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, noted that Germany and its allies have a “phobia” against the Russian Federation. In yet another sarcastic take, Zakharova recommended a mental health specialist for the German official. “Call the doctors at Werderscher Markt, 1 (address of the German Foreign Ministry — ed.) — memory loss and acute phobias,” she wrote in a statement published on her Telegram channel.

Russian election held in an environment of ‘shrinking political space’: EU

High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, also dismissed the results of the Russian presidential election, saying that it was held in a "limited political environment.”

"The election took place in an environment of shrinking political space. This deprived Russian voters of real choice and significantly limited their access to reliable information," Borrell said.

United States security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that the election in Russia failed to meet the mandatory criteria of freedom and democracy, but added that the reality remains that Putin is the president of Russia. The election in Russia was neither free nor fair, the Deputy head of the US State Department press service Vedant Patel additionally noted.

“It is completely unacceptable and illegal to hold elections for the President of the Russian Federation in the occupied regions of Georgia. This once again grossly violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and is completely contrary to international norms,” meanwhile Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili stressed, condemning the polls in the contested regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Russia must not pay attention to what what the German Foreign Ministry announces in regards to the Russian election, country’s First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Svetlana Zhurova, meanwhile noted. “They would not recognise the election because of Crimea, because of the four new regions. They do not consider our president to be president because of such nuances; in their opinion, he cannot be one. But it is our election within the country and it is our decision," Zhurova added.