Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has sent a letter congratulating Russian leader Vladimir Putin on winning sham "presidential elections" in Russia.

According to Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet, Orbán sent the letter on the occasion of the official announcement of the "election" results in Russia.

In the letter, Viktor Orbán explained that he was pleased that cooperation between Hungary and Russia is based on mutual respect, which allows for discussing critical issues even in the current challenging geopolitical situation.

"Hungary is on the side of peace; we believe that further dialogue is a fundamental condition for the swift establishment of peace," Orbán was quoted as saying.

Orbán assured Putin that Hungary was ready to expand cooperation with Russia within fields not restricted by international law, Orbán's spokesman Bertalan Havasi explained.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić met with Russian Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, through whom he congratulated Russian leader Vladimir Putin on his "victory in the presidential election" in Russia.

After the sham "elections" in Russia, Putin lost his legitimacy as president of that country. Therefore, Ukrainska Pravda no longer applies the term "president" to this person and reiterates that the Russian government will cease to be legitimate after his inauguration. In this article, we justify and explain the importance of this change.

Earlier, many European countries criticised Russia's presidential "election".

The European Union has criticised the "presidential elections" in Russia, which were subject to numerous restrictions, saw no participation of real opposition candidates, and included votes cast in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.