Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, has said that the presidential elections held in Russia cannot be considered a free, democratic expression of the will of the people.

As reported by LRT, Landsbergis said that given all the coercion, repression and fraud that took place during the Russian elections, it is impossible to speak of the results as legitimate.

"We therefore don’t think this scripted and staged process can be called an ‘election’; it was really more of a tragic farce," he said.

A statement from the Lithuanian foreign ministry stressed that Russian government officials resorted to unlawful actions against representatives of the opposition and civil society, suppressed independent media, and failed to invite international observers from the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe).

The ministry also said that the death of Putin’s opponent Alexei Navalny under suspicious circumstances in prison, countless unjustified detentions of other Kremlin opponents, and the persecution of dissidents both within Russia and abroad, have shocked the world and lay bare the Russian government’s desire to force anyone who does not agree with it into silence. Under these circumstances, the Lithuanian foreign ministry said, Russian elections clearly lack democratic legitimacy.

The ministry also stressed that Lithuania will not recognise the results of the sham elections held on the occupied territories of Ukraine, and spoke out against the fact that voting took place in Georgian and Moldovan territories de facto controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

The Polish foreign ministry also issued a statement saying that the presidential elections in Russia could not be considered legal, free and fair.

Charles Michel, President of the European Council, stated unequivocally on the first day of the Russian presidential elections that Vladimir Putin's reelection to the Russian presidency was not the result of free democratic voting, congratulating him in advance on his "victory."