Russian Election 2024- final day of Vladimir Putin’s presidential election
Swamp polling stations Voter told all at once and spoil ballots, After two days of dye attacks, fires and Ukrainian cross-border strikes- Russian Election 2024- final day of Vladimir Putin’s presidential election
Critics of Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin regime have called for mass protests at Russian polling stations on Sunday, the final day of the presidential election, which is guaranteed to strengthen his hardline rule.
Russian Election 2024- final day of Vladimir Putin’s presidential
election
The three-day vote has already been marred by Ukrainian bombings and a series of incursions into Russian territory by anti-Putin subversion groups. Early Sunday, a drone strike caused a fire at a refinery in Slavyansk in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region, where officials said one person died of a heart attack, while on Saturday drone strikes in the Russian city of Belgorod. Two people died later. According to officials.
On Sunday morning the Russian Defense Ministry reported 35 Ukrainian drone incursions, including four in the Moscow region and two in the neighboring Kaluga and Yaroslavl regions. The Defense Ministry said more Ukrainian drones struck the Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov regions bordering Ukraine and the southern Krasnodar region.
Since Russians have gone to the polls, there have been incidents of protest, including coloring in ballot boxes and arson at polling stations
Before his death in an Arctic prison last month, the main Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, who held mass anti-Putin rallies, urged Russians to protest on Sunday.Russian Election 2024- final day of Vladimir Putin’s presidential election
His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, reiterated his call ahead of the election and said protesters should arrive in large numbers at the same time to put pressure on polling stations.
He called on protesters to spoil ballot papers by writing “Navalny” on them or vote for candidates other than Putin.
Since the beginning of Moscow’s offensive on Ukraine on February 24, 2022, any public dissent in Russia has been harshly punished and there have been repeated warnings from authorities against election protests.
Russian Election 2024- final day of Vladimir Putin’s presidential election
The Russian opposition has called on people to turn out to vote in the afternoon in what they hope will be a legal show of force against Putin.
A Moscow resident in his 20s said he would attend an afternoon protest in the capital, “just to see young pro-life faces around… to feel some support around me.” , and to see the light in this dark tunnel”.
The man, who declined to be named for security reasons, said he hoped the demonstration would show authorities that “people in this country are against the struggle against the regime”.
Putin, 71, a former KGB agent, has been in power since the last days of 1999 and is set to extend his grip on Russia until at least 2030. If he serves another Kremlin term, he will remain in power longer than any Russian leader. Since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.
He is running without any real opponent, has banned two candidates who oppose the conflict in Ukraine, as well as jailed Navalny, leading to his death.
The Kremlin has seen the election as an opportunity for the Russians to show they are behind the attack on Ukraine, where Russian-occupied territories are also voting.
Voting will end in Kaliningrad, Russia’s westernmost time zone, and an exit poll is expected to be announced shortly thereafter.
A concert is being held on Red Square on Monday to mark 10 years since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula – an event that is also expected to serve as a victory celebration for Putin .
Ukraine has repeatedly described the elections as illegitimate and a “farce” and its Foreign Ministry has urged Western allies not to recognize the results.
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and more than 50 member states have criticized Moscow for holding the vote in parts of Ukraine, with Guterres saying that its “attempted illegal annexation” of those areas has “no legitimacy” under international law. Not there.
Russian state media have trumpeted recent advances on the front and portrayed the conflict as a fight for survival against the West.
Moscow has tried to press its advantage on the frontline as divisions over Western military support for Ukraine have led to ammunition shortages, although Ukraine says it has managed to halt the Russian advance for the time being.
A Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odessa on Friday killed 21 people, including rescue workers responding to the initial strike – an attack that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as “despicable”.
On the Russian side, the military has reported repeated attempts by Ukrainian subversion groups to cross into Russia and the local governor of the Belgorod region ordered on Saturday that the city of Belgorod and surrounding shopping malls and schools be closed for two days.