Surprising absolutely no one, Vladimir Putin “won” re-election as Russia’s dictator for life “president” as voting ended on Sunday. Putin will now “legally” have six more years in power.

And wow, look at those vote totals!

Beyond the fact that voters had virtually no choice, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited. According to Russia’s Central Election Commission, Putin had some 87% of the vote with about 90% of precincts counted.

It’s amazing how unanimous the vote can be when *checks notes* your primary opponent suddenly dies and there really aren’t any other options. What a winning combination for Putin! Interestingly, Russians abroad were voting at their embassies – including Yulia Navalnaya, Alexei Navalny’s widow. I wonder if those ballots will ever make it to Russia.

Among those heeding call was Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, who joined a long line in Berlin as some in the crowd applauded and chanted her name.

She spent more than five hours in the line and told reporters after casting her vote that she wrote her late husband’s name on the ballot.

Asked whether she had a message for Putin, Navalnaya replied: “Please stop asking for messages from me or from somebody for Mr. Putin. There could be no negotiations and nothing with Mr. Putin, because he’s a killer, he’s a gangster.”

Beyond Russia, huge lines also formed around noon outside diplomatic missions in London, Berlin, Paris, Milan, Belgrade and other cities with large Russian communities, many of whom left home after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Protesters in Berlin displayed a figure of Putin bathing in a bath of blood with the Ukrainian flag on the side, alongside shredded ballots in ballot boxes.

Russian state television and officials said the lines abroad showed strong turnout.

In Tallinn, where hundreds stood in a line snaking around the Estonian capital’s cobbled streets leading to the Russian Embassy, 23-year-old Tatiana said she came to take part in the protest.

“If we have some option to protest I think it’s important to utilize any opportunity,” she said, only giving her first name.

Boris Nadezhdin, a liberal politician who tried to join the race on an anti-war platform but was barred from running by election officials, voiced hope that many Russians cast their ballots against Putin.

“I believe that the Russian people today have a chance to show their real attitude to what is happening by voting not for Putin, but for some other candidates or in some other way, which is exactly what I did,” he said after voting in Dolgoprudny, a town just outside Moscow.

Well, after securing another term in power, Putin then dropped this little bombshell regarding Alexei Navalny.

Putin’s comments came after NBC News asked: “Mr. President, journalist Evan Gershkovich spent this election in prison; Boris Nadezhdin, who opposes your war in Ukraine, was not allowed to stand against you; and Alexei Navalny died in one of your prisons during your campaign. Mr. President, is this what you’d call democracy?”

Putin, who rarely speaks Navalny’s name, said in response that “several days before Mr. Navalny perished, I was told by some of my colleagues … that there is an idea to exchange Mr. Navalny for some people in prison in Western countries.”

“Believe me or not, the person talking to me hardly finished their sentence when I said: ‘I agree.’ But unfortunately, the thing that happened happened,” Putin added, speaking as he declared victory in the country’s elections.

Putin went on to say that if Navalny had been released, he would have been banned from Russia, but then finished his statement with “But it happens. There’s nothing you can do about it. That’s life.”

Now, it’s very easy for Vladimir Putin to make these kind of grandiose statements that are supposed to make him look reasonable and open to negotiation, since he will never have to follow through on them. Everything points to Alexei Navalny having died of unnatural circumstances. He was seen the day before his death, and there was nothing to indicate poor health – you know, other than living in an Arctic gulag. Russian officials declared that he had died of a “blood clot,” but then held the body for weeks until his burial on March 1st in Moscow, while declaring that he died of “sudden death syndrome,” whatever the hell THAT means. Navalny’s family suspected that he was poisoned again, and the Russian prison authorities were holding the body until no trace of the poison could be detected. And now that he is safely dead and buried, and no longer a threat to Putin, he can talk about the hypothetical deal that could have happened, but oh well, too bad he just dropped dead. C’est la vie and all that, says Vladimir Putin.

One of Navalny’s associates at the time of his death asserted that a prisoner swap was being finalized. Putin’s comments would seem to be confirmation of those talks.

One of Navalny’s close allies, Maria Pevchikh, said last month that negotiations were in the “final stage” on the night before Navalny’s death to free him in exchange for Vadim Krasikov, a convicted Russian killer serving a life sentence in Germany. Two U.S. citizens being held in Russia were also supposedly part of the deal, she said.

Pevchikh is the chair of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.

“But why did he [Putin] kill him now? Why Feb. 16? I know the answer to that question, and I have neither the slightest reason nor desire to hide it,” Pevchikh said in a video message last month.

“Alexei Navalny could have been sitting in my place right now, today. This is not a figure of speech. It could and should have happened. Navalny was supposed to be free in the coming days because we had achieved a decision on his exchange,” she said.

My personal guess? Putin had no problem stringing along talks regarding Navalny’s release because he never intended to actually release him. Navalny alive and exiled would still be a thorn in Putin’s side. Would Navalny have agreed to Putin’s terms of permanent exile? Considering that Navalny returned to Russia after being poisoned with a known Soviet nerve agent, knowing he had a target on his back, I doubt he would have willingly agreed to exile.

This does raise the prospect that Putin would be willing to deal in a prisoner swap, which might allow the United States to get back Paul Whalen, or Evan Gershkovich, or Ksenia Karelina. Given the previous deal through the Biden administration, I’m not sure that another prisoner swap would gain all three back – especially not if the Russian criminal in question is being held by Germany, not the United States.

The status quo remains in Russia. Vladimir Putin, with his greatest rival conveniently dead, remains in power. Claiming that he was willing to release said rival rings very hollow, just a couple of weeks after making sure he had a quick burial. At this point, like so many dictators before him, the only one who has a hope of removing Vladimir Putin from power is Death itself.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click