Im keenly aware that there is not a free opposition in Russia and from an ideological point of view, this may be sufficient to discredit the recent election in its entirety and as such put Russia in the China basket.
From the point of view of Political Realism, however, there was over 74% voter turn out (much more than in a US Presidential election) and voting in Russia is non-compulsory (like the USA) ; so IMO if the Russian public were anti-Putin, the majority would have simply abstained/spoiled votes; instead 87% voted for Putin.
