Russian independent media said at least five people, including several elderly women, set fire to polling stations, burned ballots and threw incendiary devices. This is a highly unusual wave of protests in the country, challenged by President Vladimir Putin. A year-long war in Ukraine and harsh political repression.
The election is important because Putin will once again abolish constitutional term limits designed to prevent dictators from remaining in power for decades. Instead, he has done just that, guaranteeing his next victory by 2030.
The election has been widely criticized for lacking democratic choice, with anti-war candidates and genuine opposition figures barred from running, and the Kremlin cracking down on media, security services and election commissions. Maintains control.
Russia's Central Election Commission on Friday called for increased security at polling stations amid unfolding incidents of protests, saying such assaults could be punishable by up to five years in prison. He warned the people that there was.
Russia's election commission chief Ella Pamfilova also reported a large-scale hacking operation, saying there had been more than 10,000 cyberattacks by 5pm on Friday.
Many Russians defaced their ballots or marked votes against Putin.
Some wrote the name of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who recently died in prison. According to a photo of the ballot paper posted, protesters are protesting President Putin's move to cling to power for a fifth term as the war with Ukraine enters its third year and continues to cause numerous casualties. Some scrawled slogans calling for the demobilization of Russian soldiers. On the independent Russian Telegram channel.
According to Russian media, two people set fire to polling stations in Moscow and surrounding areas, and another woman tried to set fire to a polling station in the town of Kogalim in the Khanty-Mansi region. In Ivanovo, local media reported that an elderly woman set fire to a school polling station.
According to local media outlet Fontanka, a 21-year-old woman in St. Petersburg threw a petrol bomb outside a polling station.
Six people poured green disinfectant or dye into ballot boxes in regions across the country, and another incident was reported in occupied Ukraine's Crimea. Crimea is one of five regions in Ukraine that Russia claims has been illegally annexed, and where Russia is holding elections.
Alexander Kinev, an independent political analyst living outside Russia and former professor of political science at the Moscow Higher School of Economics, said the attack undermined the image of a smooth election that Russian authorities had hoped for.
“This is not good at all for the authorities, because now the information picture is full of this,” Kainev said. “It shows the dissatisfaction of society.”
“The majority of society does not support the authorities. They are trapped in Russia, hopelessly frustrated and extremely depressed,” he continued. “Today can be interpreted as a manifestation of this recession.” Kinev said anti-Putin forces outside Russia may have organized the protests.
embassy of England and Australia issued a statement condemning Russia's holding of elections in occupied Ukraine.
The U.S. Embassy posted on X (formerly Twitter), listed The names of writers, journalists, political scientists, and business executives whose criticism has been silenced with the question, “Who's next?” He added that they “have a right to have a voice in their own country.”
European Council President Charles Michel speaks sarcastically Congratulations “About the landslide victory in the elections starting today,'' President Putin wrote in a post on X, “There is no opposition. There is no freedom. There is no choice.'' Michel wrote.
Those who set fire to polling stations and poured liquid into ballot boxes were detained, and the Russian Investigative Committee said that the person in Moscow who threw liquid into the ballot box “obstructed the enforcement of voting rights and the work of the electoral commission.” It was announced that criminal charges would be filed against the woman.
Voting in the election runs from Friday to Sunday, so there is a good chance that ballot boxes will be tampered with. Voters in 27 regions and two regions of occupied Ukraine also have access to widely criticized opaque online voting systems, with no way to verify votes or prevent manipulation.
The Russian president was supposed to leave power this year after four terms, but in 2020 he engineered constitutional changes that would allow him to potentially remain in office until 2036.
President Putin has ruled Russia since 2000 and was scheduled to step down in 2008, when he first ran into term limits. Instead, he swapped jobs with then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and returned as president in 2012, sparking the largest protests in Russian history.
Putin's increasingly repressive government has jailed critics, and opposition leaders including Navalny and Boris Nemtsov have been killed, imprisoned or fled Russia.
Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, accused Putin of ordering the killing after her husband died in the “Arctic Wolf” prison last month, and after the election she and other opposition figures accused Putin of ordering the killing. He called on Western governments not to recognize Putin as president. fraudulent.
Other Putin critics, including Vladimir Kara Murza, who is serving a 25-year sentence for treason, have also called on Western leaders to refuse to hold elections or recognize Putin as the legitimate president. There is.
Before his death, Navalny had called on voters to show their opposition to President Putin by gathering at polling stations at midday on Sundays and voting for someone else in a protest called “Noon Against Putin.” Ta.
Many Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, voted on Friday, an apparent effort to mobilize Russians to vote early. President Putin cast an online vote on Friday. Russian media reported that the Kremlin expected turnout to be at least 70 percent, with more than 80 percent of the votes cast for President Putin.
Some voting stations have circus-like events, with prizes handed out, free pancakes, people voting in costumes, singers performing, and folk dancers circling. There was a great atmosphere.
A life-sized cardboard cutout of American right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson was installed at a polling station in Siberia's Tyumen region. Carlson has recently become a star on Russian state television because his criticism of the United States often aligns with the Kremlin.
According to Russian media, many state employees and workers at state-owned enterprises are forced to vote early and send photos of themselves casting their ballots or of their ballots to their bosses.
Natalia Abbakumova in Riga, Latvia contributed to this report
