In his annual news conference on Thursday, Putin made it clear where he stood: Brexit means Brexit.

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British Prime Minister Theresa May “must fulfill the will of the people that was stated at the referendum — otherwise, it’s no referendum at all,” Putin said. “If someone doesn’t like it, they’ll just do it again and again? Is this democracy? I’ll see what the critics say if another referendum is held and another one until they get results that are satisfactory for certain people. And why then do we need referendums?”

He returned to the subject unprompted later on in his news conference.

Asked by a state television talk show host about the conflict with the West, Putin said the real problem lies in the “tectonic changes” occurring within it — an emerging crisis of democracy.

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“Trump won; this is an obvious fact,” Putin said. “People don’t want to acknowledge his victory — isn’t that disrespect for the voters?”

“Or in Britain,” he went on, “Brexit passed, and no one wants to implement it. They’re not accepting the results of elections. Democratic procedures are being weakened; they’re being destroyed.”

Putin’s insistence that the British government needed to get Brexit done with was noteworthy because the Kremlin has been accused of backing the “Leave” campaign in the run-up to the 2016 vote. Parliamentary investigators in Britain, for instance, have probed one major Leave campaign funder’s dealings with the Russian ambassador in London.

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Russia denies any interference in the referendum campaign, just as it denies helping to elect President Trump in 2016. But in both cases, Western officials say, Russia threw its lot behind campaigns critical of the established Western world order. In the aftermath of Trump’s victory, Putin has often echoed Trump’s contention that investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were simply efforts to delegitimize his victory. On Thursday, Putin similarly offered his support to Britain’s Brexiteers, who insist that holding a second referendum would be a betrayal of democracy.

“This is a serious process,” Putin said about the democratic crisis he had diagnosed. “I’ve even noticed that Western experts have started discussing this issue.”

In Britain, some of those campaigning for a second referendum, also called a “people’s vote,” dismissed Putin’s intervention. Others said it strengthened their case.

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Andrew Adonis, a Labour Party politician who is campaigning for a second referendum, tweeted, “Putin obviously supports the Brexit referendum — he bought it & paid for it.”

Owen Smith, a Labour lawmaker, tweeted: “Vladimir Putin says he doesn’t want the UK to hold a Second Referendum. The case for a #PeoplesVote rests.”

David Miliband, a former foreign secretary, said in a statement given to the People’s Vote campaign group that Putin’s “contempt for, or fear of, a People’s Vote will not shock anybody. The overwhelming evidence of malign and multiple Russian interventions in western democratic processes, including the Brexit referendum, have been designed to destabilize democratic rule.”

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Putin’s comments came as May continued to struggle to win support for her unpopular Brexit agreement with the E.U., even though Britain is set to leave the bloc in less than 100 days.

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May has repeatedly ruled out a second referendum. A do-over, she said, would “break faith with the British people.” But members of her own cabinet have left the door ajar.