M A I N   N E W S

Putin elected President

MOSCOW, March 27 (Agencies) — Fighting off a last-minute Communist surge, Mr Vladimir Putin scored a convincing victory today in presidential elections after promising to end years of political chaos and restore Russia as a global power.

With all votes counted, Mr Putin romped home with 52.52 per cent votes, the Chief Election Commission announced.

Communist Gennady Zyuganov, who presented a surprisingly strong challenge, was in second place with 29.44 per cent.

The turnout was put at 68.86 per cent.

Mr Putin will be sworn in on May, 5, according to Russian news agency Novosti which quoted Central Election Commission Chairman Alexander Veshnyakov.

Mr Putin, referring to the neck-and-neck race for the top post, told mediapersons late last night that he would not like to see any power vacuum even for an instant in view of the difficult situation Russia was confronted with.

The successes in the Chechen conflict had not contributed much to his victory as was forecast. The daily Izvestia explained that he was viewed as a Leftist by a section of the population, as a Rightist by another section and as a Centrist by the third section.

His strong views on restoring Russia’s political, military and economic power have definitely won the hearts of the cross-section of the masses.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called Mr Putin “a very complicated man” and promised to judge him by his present actions rather that his past association with the KGB secret police, a report from Washington said.

Mr Putin, who had served with the KGB since the mid-1970s until 1990, has repeatedly pledged to restore law in order in Russia, a promise that has raised concerns in the West about Russia’s possible return to authoritarianism.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder congratulated Mr Putin on his victory and said he believed it would boost relations between Russia and Europe.

“I am confident that a constructive, fresh start in Russian-German and Russian-European relations is possible,” Mr Schroeder told Mr Putin in a telegram.

In Tokyo, Japan said it welcomed the election of Mr Putin, saying it hoped his victory would improve ties between the two neighbours who have yet to put an official end to world war two hostilities.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin also congratulated Mr Putin and said he hoped it would bring the two countries closer, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

It quoted Mr Jiang’s message as saying he hoped to work with Mr Putin to make their two countries “good neighbours, good partners and good friends”.

Meanwhile, Mr Putin today hailed rebel Chechnya’s participation in Russia’s weekend presidential election, but warplanes resumed their bombing of guerrilla targets in the southern mountains.

Mr Putin owes his victory in yesterday’s poll in large part to his strong handling of the six-month-long military campaign against separatist fighters in Chechnya, which is strongly backed by most Russian voters.

“The very fact that most Chechens in this republic voted in the presidential election shows that they recognise that they and their republic are part of the Russian Federation,” Mr Putin told a news conference in the early hours of today.

NEW DELHI:- The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, spoke to the Russian President elect on Monday over the hotline and conveyed his warm felicitations and greetings over the Russian leader’s impressive victory in the just-concluded elections.

WASHINGTON: The US President, Mr Bill Clinton, congratulated the Russian President-elect urging him in a phone call to strengthen democracy and international ties.

Mr Clinton said in a written statement that he had congratulated Mr Putin on winning yesterday’s election.

Putin has soft spot for India

MOSCOW, March 27 (PTI) — “If I had lots of money, I would have toured India,” wrote Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin in his recently-published biography clearly indicating his soft spot for the world’s largest democracy.

India may as well be one of the first, if not the first, countries to be visited by Mr Putin after he takes oath of the presidential office in early may, Kremlin sources say.

Till 1996 an obscure First Deputy Mayor of St Petersburg in charge of foreign economic relations, Mr Putin played a key role in reviving his region’s defence and economic relations with India in the post-Soviet era.

The Indian Consulate General in St Petersburg was one of the select diplomatic missions in the town frequented by Mr Putin and he had a very good personal rapport with the then Acting Consul General, Dr Ramesh Chandra.

“The common people of Russia feel the importance of ties with India and have a better understanding of the geopolitical significance of Russia-India relations than some politicians,” Mr Putin had told PTI in May 1996 at an “India Quiz” prize distribution ceremony in St Petersburg.

+After taking charge of the country’s top post, he is expected to take tangible steps to introduce badly-needed dynamism in the bilateral relations and fill the declared strategic partnership with solid economic content.