Russian president Vladimir Putin's re-election to a fifth term of office - in a vote in which no credible opposition candidate was allowed to stand - was "neither free nor fair", according to Italy.
"The elections in #Russia were neither free nor fair and also involved illegally occupied Ukrainian territories," foreign minister Antonio Tajani wrote late Sunday on X when Putin's landside victory emerged in exit polls.
"We continue to work for a just peace that will lead Russia to end the war of aggression against Ukraine, in compliance with international law," Tajani wrote, referring to the more-than-two-year-old invasion.
Voting took place in the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine: Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea.
Overall, turnout was 77%.
Putin won 87.8% of the vote, the highest ever result in Russia's post-Soviet history, according to an exit poll by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) pollsters. Putin's victory cements his grip on power.
The United States, United Kingdom and Germany and other nations have also slammed Russia's three-day election as undemocratic due to imprisonment of political opponents and censorship.
