Appointed As Russian President For 5th Term, Vladimir Putin: Together We Will Win

JAKARTA - Vladimir Putin said Russia would realize all things that had been planned and not close the door to dialogue with the West, when he was sworn in as President of Russia for a fifth term on Tuesday.

The inauguration marks the start of Putin's six-year term, which won 87.28 percent of the vote in the presidential election held last March.

President Putin told Russian political elites after being sworn in he did not close the dialogue with Western countries. However, Western countries must make their own choices regarding how to interact with their countries.

He said negotiations regarding strategic nuclear stability with the West may also be carried out, but only on equal terms.

"We are a united and great nation and together we will overcome all obstacles, we will realize everything we have planned. Together we will win," President Putin said.

Separately, Sergei Chemezov, a close ally of President Putin, told Reuters before the ceremony, President Putin brought stability, something his critics should even welcome.

"For Russia, this is a continuation of our path, this is stability you can ask any citizen who is on the road," Chemezov said.

"President Putin has been re-elected and will continue his way, although the West may not like him. But they will understand Putin is stability for Russia, not some kind of new person who comes up with new policies, either cooperation or confrontation," he said.

The United States, which said it did not consider its re-election to take place freely and fairly, did not attend the inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.

Britain, Canada and most European Union countries also decided to boycott the oath-taking, but France said it would send its ambassador.

Ukraine says the event aims to create "an illusion of legality for someone in power for almost a lifetime, which has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and a ruling regime into a dictatorial state".