Putin had to contrive a ‘landslide’ – because he knows cracks are showing in Russian society | Samantha de Bendern

The Kremlin will use this victory to justify an intensified war. But even the state news agency reported election rebellion

Although Vladimir Putin's landslide victory with 87% of the vote in the Russian election was no surprise, these elections were important both for the Kremlin and for those in opposition to Putin.

With voter turnout at 74% - the highest in history - anything less than a landslide victory would have suggested that those who did not vote for Putin represented a significant force in Russian politics. This would have been particularly awkward in the case of young upstart Vladislav Davankov, who, with 3.79% of the vote, came a close third place. Davankov has been mistakenly described as an anti-war candidate - he supports peace and negotiations, but on Russia's conditions and without one step backwards" - but his platform also called for freedom of speech and opinion, instead of intolerance and denunciations", and openness and pragmatism instead of searching for new enemies".

Samantha de Bendern is an associate fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House and a political commentator on LCI television in France