Putin has genuine support in Russia: Soini

Foreign Minister Timo Soini said on Sunday that the voter turnout in Russian presidential election indicates that Vladimir Putin has genuine support in Russia.

Interviewed on national television Yle, Soini said that the 70 percent support for Putin and the voter turnout at around 60 percent denote "a sort of stability" in Russia. "Putin is a leader chosen by the Russians themselves," Soini said.

The foreign minister said he hoped Putin would take "steps for peace" during his fourth term, "so that normal, rule-based international cooperation could be attained again".

Soini did not take a stand on whether some irregularities reported should be taken up with the Russians.

Putin, the incumbent Russian president, was set to win Sunday's presidential election as he got 75.91 percent of the vote after 70 percent of the ballots were counted, preliminary data from the Central Election Commission (CEC) showed.