British Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron, has denounced the election in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin solidified his control over power by stifling any genuine opposition.

Preliminary results released on Sunday indicated that Putin secured nearly 88% of the vote in the election.

If confirmed, this outcome from Russia’s Central Election Commission would mark a record victory for Putin, prolonging his rule for another six-year term.

Only three candidates ran against the president in the election.

According to reports, these candidates refrained from criticizing Putin’s leadership or his intervention in Ukraine.

It is alleged that any serious contenders were removed before the voting began.

prominent critic Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison last month, while other opponents of the president’s regime are either imprisoned or in exile.

Meanwhile, the election underwent minimal independent monitoring, as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was not invited to observe the three-day voting process.

Responding to the election’s conduct, Cameron took to his official Twitter account to express his dismay, stating, “this is not what free and fair elections look like.”

He added, “The polls in Russia have closed amid illegal elections held on Ukrainian territory, limited voter choice, and the absence of independent OSCE monitoring. This does not resemble free and fair elections.”

Overnight, California experienced a sequence of 13 earthquakes within just 25 minutes, as confirmed by the National Weather Service (NWS).

According to US authorities, the initial earthquake occurred shortly after midnight on Monday, striking northwest of El Centro, a city situated in the southern border region. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported the quake as registering a magnitude of 4.8 and causing significant shaking across San Diego County.

A 4.5 magnitude aftershock followed merely six minutes later, originating west of the Salton Sea, as stated by the USGS. This was succeeded by a series of smaller aftershocks.

Meteorologists attribute these seismic events to the San Jacinto fault system, recognized as one of the most active faults in southern California.

The initial quake struck at 12:36 am on Monday, with its epicenter located 11.7 miles deep, as revealed by the USGS. The occurrence of this quake, along with twelve subsequent ones, triggered a shake alert issued by the USGS.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged Turkey on Monday to expedite the approval of Sweden’s pending membership, stating that it should be done “as soon as possible.” Stoltenberg emphasized that Sweden has fulfilled its commitments, and now it is crucial for Turkey to conclude the accession process.

As of now, Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO member states that have not ratified Sweden’s bid for membership, despite Sweden applying for it over 18 months ago. The Turkish parliament initiated discussions on Sweden’s membership earlier this month, following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s initiation of the process after a NATO summit agreement in July.

While the other 29 NATO allies had hoped to officially welcome Sweden into the alliance during a foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels this week, the process is currently in the committee stage in the Turkish parliament.

Expressing his desire for a swifter ratification process, Stoltenberg remarked, “I would have liked to see more speed in the ratification process, that’s no secret. I would like them to finalize that, and that’s exactly what I have communicated many times.”