OREANDA-NEWS. March 05, 2012. PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Hello everyone,

It’s a wonderful day today. Thank you to all of you here. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for supporting our candidate Vladimir Putin.

Our candidate has taken a confident lead and I have no doubt that he will win. We all need this victory. Our country needs it, each and every one of us needs it, and we will not let anyone take it from us.

We need this victory so as to build a modern, strong and independent Russia. And so, our candidate is the victor!

PRIME MINISTER OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Friends, above all, I want to thank all the citizens of Russia who voted today in the presidential election.

Of course I want to say a special word of thanks to you, who have come here tonight in Moscow, and to everyone who supports us in all corners of our vast country. Thank you to everyone who said ‘yes’ to a great Russia.

‘Will we win?’ I asked you on one occasion.

We have won! We won in an open and honest fight. Thank you, friends, thank you!

We have won in an open and honest battle.

This was not just about electing the country’s president. This was a hugely important test for all of us, for our entire people, a test of our political maturity, independence, and ability to rely on ourselves.

We showed that no one can impose their will on us. Not anyone, and not in any form. We showed that our people know how to distinguish between the desire for change and renewal, and political provocations that pursue the sole objective of undermining Russia’s statehood and usurping power. 

Russia’s people showed today that such scenarios will get nowhere here. They will never succeed!

We won today. We won thanks to the support of the great majority of our voters. We won an undisputed victory.

We will work hard and honestly and we will achieve results. We call on everyone to unite around the interests of our country and people.

I promised you that we would win, didn’t I? Well, we have won. Glory to Russia!