Presidential election in Russia: voting and attempted interference

Russian President Putin has described the ongoing Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory as a “senseless attempt to disrupt”. The staging of his re-election was marred by several incidents on the first day.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the new attacks from the Ukrainian side on the Russian border region of Belgorod on the first day of the presidential election as a senseless attempt to disrupt. “I am convinced that our people, the people of Russia, will respond to this with even greater cohesion,” Putin said at a video conference with representatives of the National Security Council. The people in the multi-ethnic state would not allow themselves to be intimidated, said the Kremlin boss.

The president wants to be confirmed in office for the fifth time in the vote scheduled for Sunday. The 71-year-old voted online from his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo near Moscow.

Putin announced help for victims of the attacks

Numerous civilians were injured in the attacks against the Russian border region of Belgorod and also against the Kursk region that have been ongoing for several days. Ukrainian rockets are said to have hit a shopping center in Belgorod on Thursday. According to Russian information, five people were killed and 18 were injured. And in the Kaluga region – about 260 kilometers from the Ukrainian border – drones are said to have attacked an oil refinery, according to Ukrainian sources.

Putin announced help for the victims of the attacks. Ukraine deployed more than 2,500 fighters for the terrorist acts of sabotage, with losses around 60 percent, Putin said. In addition, 35 tanks and around 40 armored military vehicles were deployed. With these attacks, Ukraine is once again trying to distract from the defeats in its own country.

Multiple incidents at election offices

According to the Central Election Commission in Moscow, there were isolated incidents during the election itself on the first day. However, this would have no impact on the result, said Nikolai Bulayev, deputy head of the election management, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.

For example, voters poured ink into the ballot boxes or arson attacks were carried out on polling stations. In St. Petersburg, according to the election authority, a 20-year-old woman tried to throw a Molotov cocktail at a voting station. In the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, an explosive device exploded in front of a polling station, and in the small town of Skadovsk, a homemade explosive device detonated in a trash can in front of a polling station, the electoral authority said. There are said to have been several arrests.

Voting in violation of international law

Putin also allows the vote for his re-election to take place in the occupied parts of the contested regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaprorishzhia and Kherson, in violation of international law. Ukraine condemned the voting in the war zone as illegal and called on the international community not to recognize the election.

The vote, to which around 114 million people are called, will last until Sunday evening, when the last polling stations in Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg) on ​​the Baltic Sea close at 7 p.m. CET. There is little doubt that Putin will win again, as truly opposition candidates were not approved by the election management. In fact, the Russian opposition members are either dead, in exile abroad or in prison.