Putin seen winning an expected landslide 88% of Russian election vote

President 

 won a record post-Soviet landslide in Russia’s election on Sunday, cementing his grip on power. However, thousands of opponents staged a noon protest at polling stations and the United States said the vote was neither free nor fair.

For Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel who first rose to power in 1999, the result is intended to underscore to the West that its leaders will have to reckon with an emboldened…