Western governments lined up on Monday to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin's landslide reelection as unfair and undemocratic, but China, India and North Korea congratulated the veteran leader on extending his rule by a further six years.

The contrasting reactions underscored the geopolitical fault lines that have gaped wider since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, triggering the deepest crisis in relations with the West since the end of the Cold War.

Arriving in Brussels on Monday, EU foreign ministers roundly dismissed the election result as a sham ahead of agreeing sanctions on individuals linked to the mistreatment and death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

"Russia's election was an election without choice," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at the start of the meeting.

Playing on Moscow's reference to its war in Ukraine as a "special military operation", French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said Paris had taken note of the "special election operation".

"The conditions for a free, pluralistic and democratic election were not met," his ministry said.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the election outcome highlighted the "depth of repression" in Russia.

"Putin removes his political opponents, controls the media, and then crowns himself the winner. This is not democracy," Cameron said.

France, Britain and others condemned the fact that Russia had also held its election in occupied regions of Ukraine that it claims to have annexed during the war.

The Kremlin dismissed such criticism, saying the 87% of the vote won by Putin during the three-day election showed the Russian people were consolidating around him.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia's election had no legitimacy.

"It is clear to everyone in the world that this figure (Putin)... is simply sick for power and is doing everything to rule forever," Zelenskiy said.

U.S. President Joe Biden has not yet commented but a White House spokesperson on Sunday said Russia's election was "obviously not free nor fair".

OUTSIDE WEST, PUTIN CONGRATULATED

In sharp contrast, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Putin, and said Beijing would maintain close communication with Moscow to promote the "no limits" partnership they agreed in 2022, just before Russia invaded Ukraine.

"I believe that under your leadership, Russia will certainly be able to achieve greater achievements in national development and construction," Xi told Putin in his message, according to Xinhua News.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman offered his congratulations on Putin's "decisive" victory and the Kremlin said the two men expressed readiness on the telephone to pursue their "effective coordination" in the OPEC+ oil producers group.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi echoed that message, saying he looked forward to strengthening New Delhi's "time-tested special and privileged strategic partnership" with Moscow.

India and China, along with Russia, are members of the BRICS group of emerging economies that aims to challenge U.S. domination of the global economy.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, accused by the West of supplying weapons to Russia, also extended congratulations to Putin, stressing their desire for further expansion of bilateral relations with Moscow.

In Africa, where the West has been struggling to win support for its efforts to isolate Moscow over the Ukraine war, some newspapers saw Putin's re-election as reinforcing the stance of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Those three states in the Sahel region have strengthened ties with Russia following coups in recent years at the expense of their traditional French and U.S. allies.

"In Africa, this re-election could sound like a non-event, but given the context in the Sahel it takes on a particular meaning, because Putin embodies the new geopolitical balance of power on the continent with a growing (Russian) presence and influence," said Burkina Faso daily Aujourd'hui au Faso".

‘It was a sad event’: Putin breaks silence on Alexei Navalny’s death

Vladimir Putin has broken his silence on the death of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in an Arctic prison last month.

Speaking at his campaign headquarters after claiming a landslide victory in Russia’s sham elections, the Russian president claimed he had been prepared to exchange Mr Navalny, describing the opposition leader’s death as a “sad event”.

“Concerning Mr Navalny. Yes, he passed away, it’s always a sad event,” said Putin. He added that “a few days” before he died, “there was an idea to exchange Mr Navalny for some people held in correctional facilities in Western countries”.

“I said, ‘I agree. Only on one condition: we’ll exchange him so that he does not return’,” he said. “But this happens. That’s life.”

The comments were Putin’s first about Mr Navalny’s death and one of very few times the Russian president has uttered his name in public.

The Russian opposition leader was reported dead on February 16 by prison authorities at the Siberian penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence for a string of convictions that his allies viewed as politically motivated.

Mr Navalny “felt ill” after a walk, “almost immediately lost consciousness” and died soon after, prison authorities said at the time amid widespread suspicion that the Kremlin was responsible.

Seen as Putin’s most vociferous critic, he had been poisoned and harried through the courts but had refused to flee Russia.

Maria Pevchikh, head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation formerly headed by Mr Navalny, said in the week afterwards that an agreement had been reached to swap the opposition politician in a prisoner exchange, but he died while the negotiations were in the final stages.

One Russian source with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters that both Mr Navalny and his wife had agreed to the plan, with Vadim Krasikov, an FSB officer serving a murder sentence in Berlin, the likely candidate for an exchange.

Members of Mr Navalny’s team reacted with fury to Putin’s comments, with Maria Pevchikh, chairwoman of Mr Navalny’s foundation, calling the Russian president a “lying piece of scum”.

Kira Yarmysh, Mr Navalny’s former press secretary, wrote on Twitter: “Putin killed Alexey Navalny.”

Putin’s comments come as the president secured a fifth term in Sunday’s elections despite thousands of voters across Russia and in major European countries spoiling their ballots as part of the “Noon against Putin” protests.

The movement, supported by Mr Navalny, encouraged voters to arrive at polling stations en masse at midday on Sunday, the final day of the elections, and destroy their ballots.

Yulia Navalnaya, Mr Navalny’s widow, joined thousands of protesters in Berlin, and was greeted with rapturous applause and chants of “Yulia, Yulia”.

Ms Navalanaya later posted on Twitter that the protests “give me hope that everything is not in vain, that we will still fight”.

EU agrees to sanction 30 Russians over Alexei Navalny's death

EU countries will impose sanctions on 30 Russian officials over the death of leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, according to the bloc's foreign policy chief.

"We agreed to sanctions on those responsible for the murder of Alexei Navalny," Josep Borrell said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition leader, died in an Arctic prison in February where he was being held in harsh conditions.

Officials have said the European Union would follow the United States and Britain in imposing travel bans and asset freezes on prison officials responsible for Navalny's treatment.

The names of those sanctioned by the EU are set to be released in the coming days.

The agreement to sanction those responsible for Navalny's death comes after Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed a new six-year term in elections denounced by the West as a sham.

Navalny rose to prominence during massive pro-democracy protests in Russia in 2011-2012.

The Kremlin critic was barred from running in a 2018 presidential ballot because of a fraud conviction that the US and EU criticised as politically motivated.

He fell ill in August 2020 on a flight to Moscow after meeting activists in the Siberian city of Tomsk.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, an international watchdog, confirmed a nerve agent from the banned Novichok group was used in the poisoning.

The opposition leader was transferred to a remote Arctic prison colony in late December from a jail outside Moscow.

In his last post on X, formerly Twitter, on 14 February, he reported that he’d been sentenced to 15 days in a punishment cell for the fourth time since he’d arrived there.