Berlin, 18 March 2024 (dpa/MIA) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he won't be congratulating Russian President Vladimir Putin on his re-election, his spokeswoman told the Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel.

"There will be no letter to Putin," the publication quoted spokeswoman Cerstin Gammelin as saying.

"Today I am thinking of the people in Russia who are fighting for freedom and democracy and who live in constant danger from Putin's regime. We will not forget these courageous people," Steinmeier said in a Sunday post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

The German Foreign Office earlier had said on X: "The pseudo elections in #Russia are neither free nor fair, the result surprises no one. Putin's rule is authoritarian, he relies on censorship, repression and violence."

In the previous presidential election in Russia in 2018, Steinmeier had congratulated Putin.

MIA file photo