Portugal absent from Putin’s inauguration for fifth term as Russian president – World

• Photo: Gavriil Grigorov/ Reuters

Vladimir Putin

Portugal was absent this Tuesday from Vladimir Putin’s inauguration ceremony for a fifth six-year term as president of Russia, a government source told Lusa.

According to a source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Portuguese Government was not represented at the official ceremony, which took place this Tuesday morning at the Grand Kremlin Palace, in Moscow.

On Monday, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, called on member states not to send diplomatic representatives to the inauguration.

“I swear (…) to respect and protect human and civil rights and freedoms, to respect and protect the Constitution, sovereignty, independence, security and integrity of the government”, declared Putin, quoted by the French agency AFP.

Putin said that leading Russia “is a sacred duty” and promised that the country would emerge “stronger” from the “difficult period” it is going through.

Russia is at war with Ukraine, which it invaded in 2022, and is the target of international sanctions because of the offensive against the neighboring country.

In the Russian presidential elections, which took place between March 15 and 17, Putin obtained more than 76.2 million votes (87.28%) in the vote on Russian territory.

Several Western governments joined in criticizing the democratic legitimacy of the presidential elections in Russia and did not congratulate Putin, as was the case in the United States.

The new term is expected to last another six years, which means that Putin will be President of Russia until at least 2030.

Although he publicly assured that he would not do so, Putin amended the Constitution in 2020 to allow him to be re-elected, which he could do again in six years and thus remain in the Kremlin until 2036.

Putin, who has been in power since 2000, also served as prime minister between 2008 and 2012.