Voters queue at a polling station in Moscow on Sunday. The Russian opposition called on people to head to polling stations at noon on Sunday in protest as voting takes place on the last day of an election that is all but certain to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule. The AP can’t confirm that all the voters seen at the polling station at noon were taking part in the opposition protest.
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Voters queue at a polling station in Moscow on Sunday. The Russian opposition called on people to head to polling stations at noon on Sunday in protest as voting takes place on the last day of an election that is all but certain to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule. The AP can’t confirm that all the voters seen at the polling station at noon were taking part in the opposition protest.
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Russians crowded outside polling stations at midday Sunday on the last day of a three-day presidential election, apparently heeding an opposition call to protest against President Vladimir Putin.
Putin is poised to extend his nearly quarter century of rule for six more years after a relentless crackdown on dissent.
The election is taking place amid attacks within Russia by Ukrainian missiles and drones, which have killed several people. Polls opened Friday in a tightly controlled environment where Putin only faces competition from three token rivals and there is little public criticism of him or his war in Ukraine.
Putin’s fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile. There are no significant independent observers monitoring the election.
Navalny’s associates urged those unhappy with Putin or the war to protest by coming to the polls at noon on Sunday, a strategy endorsed by Navalny shortly before his death. Navalny’s team described it as a success, pointing to pictures and videos of people — including his widow Yulia Navalnaya — crowding near polling stations at noon in cities across Russia, and at Russian embassies around the world.
While Russians went to the polls, a major Ukrainian drone attack across Russia Sunday once again was a reminder of challenges faced by the Kremlin.
The governor of the Belgorod region near Ukraine said that three people were killed in the attacks while Russia’s Defense Ministry said it took down more than 100 Ukrainian drones and missiles across the weekend.
Voting is took place at polling stations across the vast country’s 11 time zones, in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine, and online.
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Alexey Navalny, stands in a queue with other voters at a polling station near the Russian embassy in Berlin, on Sunday.
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Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Alexey Navalny, stands in a queue with other voters at a polling station near the Russian embassy in Berlin, on Sunday.
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Despite tight controls, several dozen cases of vandalism at polling stations were reported across the voting period.
Several people were arrested, including in Moscow and St. Petersburg, after they tried to start fires or set off explosives at polling stations while others were detained for throwing green antiseptic or ink into ballot boxes.
Dmitry Medvedev, a deputy head of the Russian Security Council chaired by Putin, called for toughening the punishment for those who vandalize polling stations, arguing they should face treason charges.
Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chair of the Golos independent election watchdog, said that pressure on voters from law enforcement had reached unprecedented levels.
Russians, he said in a social media post, were searched at polling stations, their ballots checked before they were cast, and police demanded a ballot box was opened to remove a ballot.
“It’s the first time in my life that I’ve seen such absurdities and I’ve been observing elections for 20 years,” Andreychuk wrote on the messaging app Telegram, referring to the actions of law enforcement.
A video, shared on social media, also appeared to show an armed man in camouflage gear going into booths, harassing Russians as they voted.
Some people told The Associated Press that they were happy to vote for Putin.
Dmitry Sergienko, who cast his ballot in Moscow, said, “I am happy with everything and want everything to continue as it is now.”
Olga Dymova, who also backed Putin, said, “I am sure that our country will only move forward towards success.”
Apparently heeding the opposition’s call to protest, lines outside several polling stations both inside and outside Russia appeared to swell around noon. Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, joined a long line at the Russian Embassy in Berlin as some in the crowd applauded and chanted her name.
Flowers and candles are laid in front of the Russian Consulate General in memory of Alexei Navalny, in Bonn, Germany, on Sunday.
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Flowers and candles are laid in front of the Russian Consulate General in memory of Alexei Navalny, in Bonn, Germany, on Sunday.
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Some Russians waiting to vote in Moscow and St. Petersburg told the AP that they were taking part in the protest, but it wasn’t possible to confirm whether all of those pictured in line were doing so.
Joining a line at a polling station around noon in Moscow, a woman who said her name was Yulia told the AP that she was voting for the first time.
“Even if my vote doesn’t change anything, my conscience will be clear…for the future that I want to see for our country,” she said.
Another Moscow voter, who also identified himself only by his first name, Vadim, said he hoped for change, but added that “unfortunately, it’s unlikely.”
Ivan Zhdanov, the head of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said that the opposition’s call to protest had been successful.
“The action has shown that there’s another Russia, there are people who stand against Putin.”
Huge lines also formed around noon outside Russian diplomatic missions in London, Berlin, Paris, Milan, Belgrade and other cities with large Russian communities, many of whom left Russia after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Protesters in Berlin displayed a figure of Putin bathing in a bath of blood with the Ukrainian flag on the side, alongside shredded ballots in ballot boxes.
Russian state television and officials said the lines abroad showed strong turnout. The Russian Embassy in Germany posted a video of the queue in Berlin on X, formerly Twitter, with the caption, “together we are strong — Vote for Russia!”
In Tallinn, where hundreds stood in a line snaking around the Estonian capital’s cobbled streets leading to the Russian Embassy, 23-year-old Tatiana said she came to take part in the protest at noon.
“If we have some option to protest I think it’s important to utilize any opportunity,” she said, only giving her first name, citing personal security reasons.
An elderly woman casts a ballot during a presidential election via a mobile election committee, who visit people who cannot physically attend a polling station, in Nikolayevka village outside Siberian city of Omsk, 2236 km (1397 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, March 16, 2024.
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An elderly woman casts a ballot during a presidential election via a mobile election committee, who visit people who cannot physically attend a polling station, in Nikolayevka village outside Siberian city of Omsk, 2236 km (1397 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, March 16, 2024.
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Independent Russian media also posted images of spoiled ballots posted by voters, with “killer and thief” inscribed on one, and “waiting for you in The Hague” written on another, in a reference to an arrest warrant issued for Putin on war crimes charges related to his alleged responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.
Boris Nadezhdin, a liberal politician who tried to join the race on an anti-war platform but was barred from running by election officials, voiced hope that many Russians cast their ballots against Putin.
“I believe that the Russian people today have a chance to show their real attitude to what is happening by voting not for Putin, but for some other candidates or in some other way, which is exactly what I did,” he said after voting in Dolgoprudny, just outside Moscow.
The OVD-Info group that monitors political arrests said that more than 75 people were arrested in 17 cities across Russia on Sunday.