Russian Election: Vote rigging and manipulation claims as Putin sweeps to landslide

Pictures showed blatant ballot rigging in an election marred by hundreds of irregularities.

In one incident at a polling station, a group of wrestlers created a commotion to block observers as a man stuffed completed voting papers into a ballot box.

Furious main opposition leader, Alexei Navalny – who was barred from the race due to a fraud conviction which he said was manufactured by the Kremlin – was angered by the result.

He tweeted: “Now is the season of Lent. I took it upon myself never to get angry and not to raise my voice. Oh well, I’ll try again next year.”

He had urged voters to boycott the election and sent thousands of observers to polling stations to watch for possible violations.

Ivan Zhdanov, an aide to Mr Navalny, said there were reports of people being bussed to polling stations by their employers.

He said: “We would call this the ‘shuttle bus election’. Some organisations, some buses, are bringing massive amounts of people.”

Monitoring group Golos reported more than 1,700 irregularities, including voting papers being found in some ballot boxes before the polls had even opened.

Some observers were barred from entering polling stations and there were also suggestions of forced voting.

Mr Putin was up against seven other candidates, including millionaire communist Pavel Grudinin, former reality television host Ksenia Sobchak and veteran nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Another six-year term means Mr Putin, 65, will spend nearly a quarter of a century in power – second only to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.