Russian state media predicted 87 percent, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. If that were to be the official final result, it would be a record for Putin – and voter turnout is currently at its highest level in a presidential election ever. At the same time, however, there were apparently many people who did not agree with the current ruler – and showed this despite all the threats of repression.
According to civil rights activists, dozens of people have been arrested during anti-Kremlin protests in Russia. Overall, it was the organization that mattered OWD info As of Sunday afternoon, more than 70 arrests had been made across the country – around 30 of them in the city of Kazan. People in Moscow and Saint Petersburg were also affected. Many of them wanted to line up in long lines in front of their polling stations at exactly twelve o’clock local time. Opposition members, including the team of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who recently died in a prison camp, called for the action under the motto “Lunchtime against Putin”: Anyone who wants to show their displeasure with the re-election of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin should go to the polling stations at lunchtime , so that long queues form there.
According to the civil rights activists, there were also arrests outside of the protests. An activist in Saint Petersburg was picked up by security forces as she left her house. Some people were released from police custody after a while.
Real opposition members were either not accepted as candidates in the election, had fled abroad or were in prison. There are also increasing reports of fraud and manipulation. Independent observers therefore describe the vote as a farce and call on the international community not to recognize the result.
Julija Navalnaya protests in Berlin
Hundreds of people also protested in Germany against the re-election of the Russian president. In Berlin, the police estimated the number of participants in a rally in front of the Russian embassy at around 800. In Bonn, a queue of more than 1,000 people had formed in front of the Russian consulate general who wanted to cast their votes in the Russian presidential election, a spokesman said the police there.
Julija Navalnaya, the widow of the dead Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, also took part in the protests in Berlin. Navalny’s team published footage on Telegram in the afternoon that showed Navalnaya accompanied by spokeswoman Kira Yarmysch in the middle of a crowd on Wilhelmstrasse. The team also wrote the words “Lunch against Putin”. According to her own statements, Navalnaya wrote the name of her deceased husband on the ballot paper. She said this after taking part in the election at the Russian embassy in Berlin.
The entrepreneur and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who lives in exile in Great Britain, also joined the crowd of protesters. The demonstrators chanted “Victory for Ukraine! Freedom for Russia!”, “Navalny is a hero of Russia” and “Putin is illegitimate.” Numerous people waved flags in white-blue-white, which are supposed to be the new colors of a free Russia, as participants said. According to the police, around 2,000 people lined up right next door in front of the Russian embassy to vote.