A councilor from the Western Australia region was caught on Russian television congratulating Vladimir Putin on his election victory.
Adrian McRae, elected to Port Hedland Council in March, praised the Russians for their “transparency” in a video posted by Channel One State News.
“May I convey my most sincere congratulations to Mr. Vladimir Putin?” he said.
“In my lifetime, the world has never seen a victory as transparent and complete as what we saw here over the last three days.”
It is understood that Mr McRae was flown to Moscow as part of an international delegation to observe the election of the President of the Russian Federation.
The councilor claimed he had been invited by the Russian ambassador to Australia, Aleksey Pavlovsky, as an “independent international observer”.
Adrian McRae, elected to Port Hedland Council in Western Australia in March, was caught congratulating Vladimir Putin on Russian state television.
McRae received a Badge of Honor from Russian opposition candidate Sergey Baburin while participating in an election observation program in Moscow this month.
The Russian embassy told the ABC that Mr. McRae, along with many other foreign nationals, had participated in the election observation program.
Famed pro-Putin activist Simeon Boikov, also known as the ‘Australian Cossack’, shared photos of Mr McRae receiving a Badge of Honor from Russian opposition candidate Sergey Baburin on the encrypted messaging service Telegram.
“(It was) the International Slavic Academy’s highest award – the Badge of Honor – for my work in strengthening friendships between the peoples of Russia and Australia,” Mr McRae later wrote of the award.
The councilor later gushed about the “most ridiculously exaggerated transparency” he witnessed in the Russian election to local newspaper the North West Telegraph.
“Having stood as a candidate in Australian federal and local government elections, as well as volunteering as a returning officer in national elections and referendums, I was truly shocked by Russia’s transparency… It leaves the Australian system in its wake” said the Moscow publication.
However, not everyone agreed with McRae that Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong called the election result an “insult to democracy.”
‘Russia’s presidential elections were not free, fair, inclusive or credible. The absence of genuine candidates and Putin’s silencing of opposition voices, including Alexei Navalny, denied the Russians any real option,” Ms Wong wrote in X.
‘We condemn the false Russian elections in Ukrainian territories, which are not valid under international law. “We support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and all those who fight for democracy and human rights in Russia.”
Putin was re-elected for his fifth term as Russian president following elections in March.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Russian elections were an “insult to democracy”
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the election, in which Putin was re-elected for his fifth term, was “not democracy,” especially after Moscow attempted to silence “any opposition to its illegal war” with Ukraine.
City of Port Hedland chief executive Carl Askew told the North West Telegraph that McRae had traveled to Moscow in his personal capacity.
“The city does not comment on the personal activities of elected members,” he said. “All elected members are subject to the city’s code of conduct.”
McRae was due to be sworn in as a member of Port Hedland Council on March 11 after a landslide victory in the March 8 by-election.
“Although I am currently abroad, between Russia and the Middle East, I hope to return to Hedland later this month to serve all the people of Port Hedland until the end of my term,” he wrote on Facebook on March 9.
Mr McRae’s business trip to Moscow goes against Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) travel advice.
“Do not travel to Russia due to the security situation and the impacts of the military conflict with Ukraine,” the advice states.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr McRae and Port Hedland Council.