Putin receives 92.8% of votes in Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali region

Vladimir Putin has received 92.8 percent of votes in Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, local media has reported.

According to the de-facto Embassy of Russia to Tskhinvali, more than 17 thousand Russian citizens went to elections in the region. The majority of them have voted for Putin.

Putin received 94.1 percent of the vote in Georgia’s other occupied region of Abkhazia.

The Georgian government has strongly condemned the opening of polling stations for the Russian presidential elections in its occupied regions.

The US Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly has also condemned the move.

Before the elections the de-facto administration of Tskhinvali announced the closure of the crossing-point between the breakaway region and the rest of Georgia due to presidential elections in Russia.

From 9 pm on March 17 until 6 am on March 19, people were temporarily unable to use the crossing-point "due to increased security measures".

The presidential elections were held in Russia on Sunday, with Putin receiving 76 percent of the vote.