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Navalny team: Lots of people protesting against Putin’s election
Vladimir Putin has dominated Russian politics for almost a quarter of a century. photo
© Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin Pool/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
People across Russia took part in protests against the re-election of Kremlin leader Putin on Sunday. The influx is particularly large in the metropolises of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Thousands of people took part in the silent protest against the re-election of the Kremlin leader in Moscow and St. Petersburg on the last day of the presidential election in Russia Vladimir Putin involved. Those close to the opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who died in the prison camp, reported that long queues formed at polling stations at 12 noon local time (10 a.m. CET) during the “Lunch against Putin” campaign organized by the Kremlin opponent’s team on Sunday in cities with over a million inhabitants. Russian voters responded en masse to the call to show their rejection of Putin by attending lunchtime.
There were also numerous participants in the actions in many other Russian cities. Navalny’s team showed numerous videos and photos of the actions in a live stream on YouTube. The opposition figure Leonid Volkov, a close confidante of Navalny in exile in the Baltics, spoke of an “explosion” of resistance to a fifth term in office for Putin.
A queue had also formed in front of polling station 31 in Moscow, as a reporter from the German Press Agency reported on site. The constituency is small, but more than 50 people showed up there at lunchtime.
Navalny’s team complains of mass fraud
The opposition suggested that voters invalidate the ballot papers by ticking several of the four candidates. There was also the option of using a random generator on the cell phone invented by Navalny that output a candidate name.
Navalny’s team complained about mass fraud in the vote. According to the Navalny team, the action against Putin should also show that, according to many independent observers, the voter turnout information is manipulated.
The authorities in Russia had sometimes warned against such protests and threatened people with charges of extremism. However, the situation remained peaceful. Initially nothing was known about any arrests. In some cases, voters published ballot papers on social networks with the word murderer next to Putin’s name. Some people simply wrote Navalny’s name on the ballot paper. An older man said, referring to the opposition leader who died in February: “My president is no longer among the living.” Navalny is buried in Moscow.