Thousands of Russians on March 17 demonstrated their protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin by showing up at the polling stations at the pre-agreed time, at noon.
This "peaceful protest," promoted by late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was meant to demonstrate how many Russians were ready to vote against Putin. After showing up at the same time, those opposing Putin were supposed to proceed to vote for any other candidate – or to ruin the ballot.
Russia's presidential election entered its third and last day on March 17, with the state-controlled news agency Interfax reporting over 70% voter turnout as of 3 p.m. local time in Moscow.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, called on Russians to vote midday on March 17 in what she described as a symbolic protest against Putin.
“There are many people around you who are anti-Putin and anti-war, and if we come at the same time, our anti-Putin voice will be much louder," Navalnaya, who lined up in queues at the Russian Embassy in Berlin to vote, said in a video published on March 13.
Photos and videos of Russians lining up in long queues to attend a local polling station were published by Russian independent media outlet Meduza. It reported that the first actions took place in the Far East and then in Siberia and the Urals.
In the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, the mayor's office claimed it "strengthened security measures" due to what it claimed as "provocative actions aimed at destabilizing the work of election commissions."
But the protest ended without achieving results or even a reaction from the Kremlin. According to OVD-Info human rights monitoring group, over 75 people protesting were arrested across 17 Russian cities at 4:21 p.m. local time.
Over the course of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Moscow intensified its crackdown on anti-war dissidents in Russia, effectively killing any hopes for a revolution that would overthrow the leadership. Multiple polls, such as the recent one conducted by the Russian independent polling organization, the Levada Center, also suggested that many Russians support the war in Ukraine.
Putin, who has ruled Russia since 2000, is seeking a fifth term as president. The win will put him in power until 2030.
In the presidential election, Putin is up against three other contenders who all stand no realistic chance of winning.
Any credible political rivals such as Boris Nadezhdin have been prevented from standing or, in the case of Alexei Navalny, imprisoned before dying while in detention.
Russia held a rigged vote in 2020 to approve constitutional amendments allowing Putin to run for two more presidential terms after his current one expires in 2024.
The vote effectively made Putin, who has been in power since 1999, a dictator for life.
Freedom House, a nonprofit advocating for international democracy, gave Russia a 0 out of 4 score in its 2023 report card on political freedoms in the country.
“Russia has never experienced a democratic transfer of power between rival groups,” said Freedom House.
Although unlikely enough to derail his chances of election, the ongoing raids by multiple pro-Ukrainian military units from Ukrainian territory into Russian border regions, have caused a headache for the Kremlin as voting gets underway.
In response to the raids, Putin and his defense chiefs may have to choose between paying a cost in resources or in reputation, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed in its daily report on March 14.
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