Portugal was absent on Tuesday from Vladimir Putin’s inauguration ceremony for a fifth six-year term as Russia’s president, a government source told Lusa.
According to a Foreign Ministry source, the Portuguese government was not represented at the official ceremony, which took place on Tuesday morning at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
On Monday, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged member states not to send diplomatic representatives to the inauguration.
“I swear (…) to respect and protect the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, to respect and defend the Constitution, sovereignty, independence, security and integrity of the government,” Putin said, as quoted by the French agency AFP.
Putin said leading Russia “is a sacred duty” and promised the country would emerge “stronger” from the “difficult period” it is going through.
Russia is at war with Ukraine, which it invaded in 2022, and is the target of international sanctions for its offensive against the neighboring country.
In the Russian presidential elections, held from March 15 to 17, Putin received more than 76.2 million votes (87.28%) in voting in Russia.
The governments of a number of Western countries joined in criticizing the democratic legitimacy of the presidential elections in Russia and did not congratulate Putin, as was the case in the United States.
The new term is expected to last another six years, meaning Putin will be Russia’s president until at least 2030.
Although he has publicly assured that he would not do so, Putin amended the Constitution in 2020 to allow him to be re-elected, which he could do again in six years and thus remain in the Kremlin until 2036.
Putin, in power since 2000, also served as prime minister between 2008 and 2012.