©Reuters. Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader who died in a prison camp, queues outside the Russian embassy on the last day of Russia’s presidential election in Berlin, Germany, March 17, 2024. REUTERS /Attachment
By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Thousands of people showed up at polling stations across Russia on Sunday to take part in what the anti-Kremlin opposition called a peaceful but symbolic political protest against President Vladimir Putin’s re-election.
In an action dubbed “noon against Putin,” Russians who oppose the veteran Kremlin leader went to their local polling station at noon to spoil their ballot paper or to vote for one of three anti-Putin candidates, who are expected to will win. from a landslide.
Others had vowed to scribble the name of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died last month in an Arctic prison, on the ballot paper.
Navalny’s allies broadcast videos on YouTube of rows of people lining up at several polling stations across Russia at midday who they said were there to protest peacefully.
Navalny had supported the “South against Putin” plan in a social media message facilitated by his lawyers before his death. The independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta called the planned action “Navalny’s political testament.”
“There is very little hope, but if you can do something (like this) you should do it. There is nothing left of democracy,” said a young woman, who did not give her name and whose face was obscured by the Navalny’s team. at a polling station.
Another young woman at another polling station, whose identity had been similarly masked, said she had voted for the “least dubious” of the three candidates running against Putin.
A student voter in Moscow told Navalny’s channel that people like him who disagree with the current system must continue to live their lives regardless.
“History has shown that changes happen at the most unexpected times,” he said.
Despite the protesters – who represent a small fraction of Russia’s 114 million voters – Putin is poised to tighten his grip on power in elections that are sure to secure him a major victory.
PROTEST
The Kremlin views Navalny’s political allies – most of whom are based outside Russia – as dangerous extremists intent on destabilizing the country on behalf of the West. Putin is said to enjoy overwhelming support among ordinary Russians, pointing to opinion polls that put his approval rating above 80%.
With Russia’s vast territory spanning 11 time zones, protest voters were scattered rather than concentrated in a single mass, making it difficult to estimate how many people showed up at the protest event.
The size of the queues at each polling station shown on Navalny’s channel ranged from a few dozen people to what appeared to be several hundred people.
Reuters journalists noticed a slight increase in the flow of voters, especially younger voters, at midday in some polling stations in Moscow and Yekaterinburg, with queues of several hundred people, in some places even thousands.
Some said they were protesting, even though there were few outward signs that distinguished them from ordinary voters.
Leonid Volkov, an exiled Navalny aide who was attacked with a hammer last week in Vilnius, estimates that hundreds of thousands of people turned out to polling stations in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and other cities.
Reuters could not independently verify that estimate.
At the polling stations of Russian diplomatic missions in Australia, Japan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Germany, Great Britain, hundreds of Russians were queuing at midday.
In Berlin, Yulia, Navalny’s widow, showed up at the Russian embassy to take part in the protest event together with Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokeswoman. Other Russians present applauded and chanted her name.
In London, thousands of people queued almost silently to vote at the Russian embassy.
“We have not been listened to for 30 years. Nobody listened to us. We moved, we emigrated, and even here, far from Russia, we feel the consequences of not being listened to,” said voter Natalia Cherednikova.
“This year it’s so important to just be there for ourselves, even though all of us (are) … fatalistic in terms of meaning and that no one really cares about. It’s only for ourselves that we were here. We voted. We introduced ourselves.”