According to the first figures from the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Putin achieved 87 percent – a record figure for the Russian ruler. Voter turnout is also currently at its highest level in a Russian presidential election ever. But in many places around the world there is protest against the election, which was no election because there were no real opposition members. People around the world are showing their displeasure – and also in Russia itself, despite all the threats of repression.
According to the police, around 800 people gathered in Berlin on Sunday for a rally in front of the Russian embassy, and in Bonn there were even around 1,000. Many waved Ukrainian flags to express their solidarity with the country attacked by Russia.
Julia Navalnaya, the widow of the dead Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, also took part in the protests in Berlin. Navalnaya explained that she had written the name of her deceased husband on the ballot paper as she came out of the polling station.
Pictures of Aleksey Navalny, who died in February, can be seen at many of the protests. Near the Russian embassy in Berlin there is a photo of him with the inscription “hero forever” and framed by flowers.
Also on display in the capital: an installation showing ballot boxes with shredded ballot papers inside. Behind it is the Russian president – in a bathtub full of what looks like blood.
Numerous people are also protesting against the Russian ruler in Paris. An activist near the Eiffel Tower holds up a poster with the inscription “Légionnaire sans honneur”, translated: “Legionnaire without honor”.
Many people are calling for an end to the war in Ukraine. In Washington DC, protesters pasted photos of wounded people and burning cars on a poster, while others wrapped Ukrainian flags around their shoulders like blankets.
In London, a woman in front of the Russian embassy calls for a Russia without Putin. The president has just secured his fifth term in office.
In Russia, a man casts an invalid ballot at a polling station in Moscow. Expressing protest against Putin can have massive consequences there. The organization Ovd-Info counted more than 70 arrests nationwide in connection with the election by Sunday afternoon.
In many Russian cities there were long queues in front of polling stations at lunchtime, for example here in Saint Petersburg. This probably also has something to do with the call “Noon against Putin”: In protest against the Russian president, people should go vote at exactly 12 p.m. Alexei Navalny called for this before his death.