The White House stopped short of congratulating Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying his re-election victory was no surprise and that there was no congratulatory phone call scheduled with US President Donald Trump.
“We’re not surprised by the outcome,” the spokesman Hogan Gidley said of the Russian election.
He added that the United States will work with Russia where it can. "We will work to cultivate the relationship with Russia and we will impose costs when Russia threatens our interests, but we will also look for places to work together when it serves our interests,” Reuters cited Gidley as saying.
Russia’s incumbent head of state Vladimir Putin has garnered 76.66% of the vote in the March 18 election, the Russian Central Election Commission said.
Pavel Grudinin, nominated by the Communist Party of Russia, was second with 11.9% of the vote, while leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) Vladimir Zhirinovsky was third with 5.66%, Ksenia Sobchak, nominated by the Civil Initiative party, was fourth with 1.67%. Next are head of the Yabloko Party’s federal political committee Grigory Yavlinsky (1.04%), chairman of the Party of Growth and Russian Presidential Envoy for Entrepreneurs’ Rights Boris Titov (0.75%), Maxim Suraikin, nominated by the Communists of Russia party (0.68%) and head of the Russian People’s Union party Sergei Baburin (0.65%).
