“We certainly did not consider that election free and fair but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity,” said Matthew Miller, a US state department official.

France, though, ordered its ambassador to attend. Speaking alongside visiting Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday, Emmanual Macron said that France was not at war with Russia and he had no “desire for regime change” in Moscow. 

Hungary and Slovakia, which have both called for Ukraine to negotiate a peace deal with Russia, also sent their ambassadors to the ceremony.

Other notable attendees were Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya who is rumoured to be ill, and Steven Seagal, the American action film star who now lives in Moscow and is accused of being a Kremlin stooge.

In a heavily choreographed ceremony, Putin was filmed walking down a long corridor to the hall where 2,500 attendees were waiting to watch his swearing-in. At one point, he stopped and bent down to read an information notice under a painting.