Russian President Vladimir Putin enjoyed a big win on Monday that was expected, as early election results showed him easily winning a fifth term against weak challengers and silencing opposition.
Russians lined up outside voting stations on Sunday to show their disagreement with Putin. However, the upcoming landslide showed that the Russian leader wants full control of the country’s political system as he continues to rule for another six years.
Putin praised the early results as a sign that people trust and believe in him – but some people think the results show that the election was already decided before it happened.
“Yes, we have a lot of things to do in the future. ” But I want to be clear: When we were together, nobody was able to scare us or control us. “They didn’t succeed before, and they won’t succeed in the future,” Putin said at a meeting with volunteers after the voting ended.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron posted on X, which used to be called Twitter, that the voting in Russia has ended. He mentioned that the elections were held in Ukraine illegally, the voters did not have many options to choose from, and there was no independent OSCE monitoring. This is not how elections are supposed to be.
No one is allowed to openly criticize Putin or his war in Ukraine. The independent media have been severely damaged. His biggest political rival, Alexei Navalny, died in a prison in the Arctic last month, and other people who criticize the government are either in jail or living in other countries.
Apart from the fact that voters had few options, there was very little independent oversight of the election. According to Russia’s Central Election Commission, Putin has 87 percent of the votes with 90 percent of the precincts counted.
In a very strict place, Navalny’s friends told people who didn’t like Putin or the war in Ukraine to go vote at noon on Sunday. There were long lines at many polling stations in Russia and at its embassies worldwide.
Yulia Navalnaya, who is the wife of Navalny, went to Berlin with many other people when they were called to come. Some people in the crowd clapped and chanted her name when they saw her.
She waited in line for over five hours and said to reporters after voting that she wrote her late husband’s name on the ballot.
Navalnaya said, “I don’t want to send any messages to Mr. “There could be no talks or deal with Mr. Putin is a bad person because he has killed people and is involved in criminal activities.
But Putin ignored the success of the protest.
“Some people asked for votes at noon. ” This was meant to show disapproval. If people were asked to vote, then. “I highly admire this,” he said at a news conference after the voting ended.
Surprisingly, Putin mentioned Navalny by name for the first time in many years during the news conference. He was told about a plan to free the opposition leader from jail a few days before he died. Putin said okay to the idea as long as Navalny doesn’t come back to Russia.
Some people from Russia are waiting to vote in the city of Moscow. Petersburg told The Associated Press that they were joining the protest, but it wasn’t clear if everyone in line was protesting.
A woman in Moscow named Yulia said she was voting for the first time.
“Even if my vote doesn’t make a difference, I will still feel good about my choice. ” She said she wants to see a better future for our country. Just like everyone else, she didn’t tell her full name because she was worried about safety.
Another person from Moscow, who only gave his first name, Vadim, said he wants things to be different, but he doesn’t think it’s going to happen.
At the same time, people who support Navalny went to his grave in Moscow. Some of them brought voting papers with his name written on them.
Meduza, a large independent news source in Russia, showed pictures of ballots from their readers. One had “killer” written on it, another had “thief,” and yet another had “The Hague awaits you. ” Putin has a warrant for his arrest from the International Criminal Court. They say he is responsible for taking children from Ukraine.
Some people said they were glad to vote for Putin. This is not surprising because in Russia, the media is controlled by the government, and speaking out against Putin can be dangerous.
Dmitry Sergienko voted in Moscow and said, “I am happy with everything and I want everything to stay the same. ”
Voting happened for three days in polling stations all over the country, including in regions of Ukraine that were taken over illegally, and also online. As voters were casting their ballots on Sunday, the Russian government claimed that Ukraine had launched a large-scale attack on Russia, resulting in the deaths of two people. This shows the difficulties the Kremlin is dealing with.
Even though there were strict rules, many polling stations still got damaged during the voting time.
Many people were taken by the police, including in Moscow and St. PetersburgIn Petersburg, some people tried to start fires or set off explosives at voting places. Others were stopped and arrested for putting green antiseptic or ink into ballot boxes.
Stanislav Andreychuk, who helps watch over elections, said that police are pressuring voters more than ever before.
In a post on social media, he said that Russians were checked when they went into voting places, and there were also attempts to look at completed ballots before people put them in the box. There was even a report that said police asked for a ballot box to be opened so they could take out a ballot.
“This is the first time I’ve seen such ridiculous things in my life,” Andreychuk wrote on the messaging app Telegram. He also said he began watching over elections in Russia 20 years ago.
The OVD-Info group, which keeps track of political arrests, stated that 80 people were taken into custody in 20 cities throughout Russia on Sunday.
This didn’t leave much space for people to show they were unhappy. But Ivan Zhdanov, who leads Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said that the opposition’s request to protest had worked.
Outside embassies in big cities, like London, Berlin, Paris, Milan, and Belgrade, long lines formed around lunchtime. Many Russian people living in these cities left their homes after Putin invaded Ukraine.
Protesters in Berlin showed a statue of Putin in a bathtub of blood with the Ukrainian flag nearby, and they also had shredded voting papers in boxes.
Russian TV and government officials said that many people in other countries came out to vote.
In Tallinn, lots of people waited in a long line that curved around the streets to the Russian Embassy. Tatiana, who is 23 years old, said she came to join the protest.
She said it’s important to use any chance to protest if we have the option to do so. She only gave her first name.
Boris Nadezhdin is a politician who wanted to run for election on a platform against war. But he was not allowed to run by election officials. He hopes that many Russians will vote against Putin.
He said that he thinks Russian people can show how they really feel about what’s going on by not voting for Putin, but for other candidates or in a different way. That’s what he did when he voted in Dolgoprudny, a town near Moscow.