the participation rate exceeded 30% on this first day of election

The Russian Central Election Commission has released the figures for this first day of presidential voting. According to this data, turnout was 30.96% as of 8:14 p.m. Moscow time.

In Moscow, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, nearly three million people voted today, including more than 2.3 million by electronic vote.

The election will continue until Sunday.

Polling stations closed in the Russian capital on the first day of this election which is due to continue over three days until Sunday.

They will reopen tomorrow at 8 a.m.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres “condemns” the holding of Russian elections in the “occupied” Ukrainian territories, the organization’s spokesperson said.

“The Secretary General condemns the efforts of the Russian Federation to hold its presidential election in the regions of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation. He recalls that the illegal attempt to annex regions of Ukraine has no justification. validity under international law,” Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement, repeating the United Nations’ attachment to Ukraine’s “independence” and “territorial integrity.”

Vladimir Putin voted online during the Russian presidential election, announced public television, which broadcast the images.

The president walks towards his desk, before sitting down in front of his computer. “Thank you, you have successfully voted,” it reads.

Eleven polling stations were evacuated in the People’s Republic of Lugansk for “threats of attack”, said the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

These offices, located in the town of Starobilsk, were under threat of “missile attack.”

According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, turnout in the presidential election at 5:31 p.m. Moscow time was 25.03%.

Data based on figures from the country’s Central Election Commission.

At least 13 people were arrested today in Russia for damage or arson attacks targeting polling stations, according to authorities.

The motive for these actions is unclear, it has not been established that they are protests against the government. The NGO OVD-Info raised possible telephone scams, common in Russia, against the promise of financial compensation.

The head of the electoral commission, Ella Pamfilova, said that these people were acting for money promised by “bastards from abroad”.

The Ukrainian attacks are an attempt to “disrupt” the Russian presidential election, President Vladimir Putin denounced during a televised meeting of his security council, on the first day of a presidential election disrupted by incidents in polling stations.

The head of state also promised a response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil. “These enemy strikes do not and will not go unpunished.” “I am sure that our people, the Russian people, will react with even more unity,” he added.

Go vote on Sunday March 17 at noon, dress in the colors of the anti-war flag, write the name of Alexeï Navalny on the ballot papers…

Opponents of Vladimir Putin explain to us the initiatives planned to protest against the announced re-election of the master of the Kremlin.

As images captured by the Reuters agency show, the television of a polling station in Moscow broadcast excerpts from the head of state’s interview last night on French television, during which Emmanuel Macron called Russia’s “adversary.” “We are not waging war against Russia,” he nevertheless qualified.

For several weeks, the French president has become the main target of Russian propagandists.

While the presidential election has just started in Russia, the President of the European Council ironically congratulated Vladimir Putin on his re-election, which is beyond doubt.

“I want to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his landslide victory in the elections that begin today,” he wrote on the social network X. “No opposition. No freedom. No choice,” he wrote. -he adds.

So far, at least eight people have been arrested on the first day of the presidential election in Russia for damage to polling stations, according to the authorities. A woman was arrested after setting fire to a voting booth in Moscow, according to Russian media.

Five of them were “placed in detention” in Moscow and in the regions of Voronezh, Rostov and Karachay-Cherkessia after having sprayed ballots placed in ballot boxes with a “coloring liquid”, the security forces explained. order in separate communiqués.

Two other individuals were arrested separately for trying to set fire to a ballot box and trying to light a firecracker in a polling station.

If it is a foregone conclusion, the Russian presidential election was disrupted by isolated protest actions and new attacks from Ukraine in the border regions.

A young woman tried to set fire to a polling station in Saint Petersburg with a Molotov cocktail. Another set fire to a voting booth in Moscow, while a bomb exploded without causing any casualties in front of a polling station in the Kherson region.

The Russian presidential vote, destined to triumphantly re-elect Vladimir Putin, opened this Friday, March 15.

The vote which runs from Friday to Sunday should see the master of the Kremlin reappointed for an additional mandate of six years, the opposition having been eradicated.

Hello and welcome to this live, dedicated to the Russian presidential election, which opened this Friday March 15. An election under tension, with numerous incidents already recorded.