13.

With 63.6% of the vote on 4 March 2012, Putin won the 2012 Russian presidential elections.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Russian Opposition criticized the election claiming procedural irregularities.

14.

After the 2012 election, opposition groups accused Putin and the United Russia party of fraud. 20,000 people gathered in Moscow to protest against the legitimacy of the election and 600 protesters were detained. A celebration of Putin supporters allegedly attracted 130,000 people, though many of them later explained they were tricked and thought they would be attending a folk music festival. Others said they were paid to come, while much more only attended because their employers had ordered them to participate.