The re-election of Vladimir Putin in Russia’s presidential election on Sunday by a landslide majority of over 76 per cent is one more slap in the face to his liberal critics and demonisers in the West. Despite portrayals in the mainstream Western media as a kleptocratic mafia boss who represses his people and commits aggression and subterfuge abroad, Russians have yet again reposed faith in the only man they have known as their nation’s saviour since he ascended from obscurity to power in 1999. By consolidating his iron grip over Russia, Mr Putin has decisively defeated what he believes is a long-running nefarious plot by American and Western European governments and news industries to force regime change in his country. On the eve of his latest uneventful election triumph, the Russian state media highlighted “dirty tricks” plotted in the West to trigger anti-Putin street protests and smear his good name through vicious “false flag” operations. This Western “meddling”, the Kremlin contends, is proof of Mr Putin’s worth as the ultimate defender of Russia’s conservative interests and the upholder of a strong state tradition. One example cited by the Putin camp as proof of the Western “fake news” assault to undermine his support within Russia is the mysterious case of Novichok poisoning of a former Russian intelligence agent, Sergei Skripal, who betrayed Russia and was fatally sickened along with his daughter by exposure to a nerve agent in Salisbury, England, earlier this month.