“Neither free nor fair”
Dozens of arrests during elections in Russia
March 17, 2024, 3:51 p.m
What the Kremlin calls the presidential election ends in the evening. Dozens of people are arrested across the country during protests.
During the Russian presidential election over the weekend, there were protests at home and abroad against the rule of incumbent Vladimir Putin. Long queues formed in front of polling stations in some cities on Sunday afternoon. Supporters of the opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who died in camp in February, had called on citizens to vote at 12 p.m. in the country’s different time zones and thereby make a sign of protest.
The civil rights portal OVD-Info counted 74 arrests across the country in connection with the election, with which Putin wants to legitimize his position of power, which has already lasted over 24 years, for another six years. Long queues formed in front of Russian embassies in several European capitals.
The Foreign Office described the vote on Russia’s future president on the online service X as a “pseudo election.” “The pseudo-elections in Russia are neither free nor fair, the result surprises no one,” it said. The long-time Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin rules in an “authoritarian manner; he relies on censorship, repression and violence.”
On Sunday afternoon, eyewitnesses at polling stations in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg reported an increasing influx, including many younger people. Among the several hundred people waiting, some said they had followed the call to protest. The authorities had warned against protests and threatened to take tough action.
Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya joined the queue in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin. She was greeted with applause and shouts of “Julia, Julia” from bystanders. The “Lunch against Putin” campaign – “Polden protiw Putina” in Russian – was one of Navalny’s last calls before his death.
“This is the last form of protest where you can express yourself freely,” said 29-year-old IT specialist Alexander, who was in front of Navalny’s former election office in Moscow’s Marjino district. “If I hadn’t done that, I would have felt like a coward,” he stressed.
A suspect was arrested in Moldova after an attack with two incendiary devices on the Russian embassy in the capital Chisinau. “A man threw two containers of flammable substances over the fence of the Russian embassy in Chisinau,” police said. According to local media, it was Molotov cocktails, so no one was injured. According to the police, the person arrested was a 54-year-old who had both Moldovan and Russian citizenship. He will be questioned. “He justified his actions with some kind of dissatisfaction with the actions of the Russian authorities,” the police statement continued.
The first forecasts are expected from 7 p.m
According to authorities, there were several protests and attempted disruptions in Russia on the first two days of voting on Friday and Saturday. In 20 cases, people poured liquids into ballot boxes to make the ballot papers unusable, the election commission said. There were also attempts at arson.
The election, to which 114 million eligible voters are called, is considered neither free nor fair. The three candidates nominated by the parliamentary opposition loyal to Putin were considered purely counting candidates. Putin’s political opponents were barred from running for office or died suddenly. Approval ratings of over 80 percent for Putin are considered realistic. Still, authorities are under pressure to report the best possible results in his favor.
This Sunday, the authorities announced that the voter turnout had already exceeded the 67.5 percent in the vote six years ago. The last polling stations close in the evening at 7 p.m. (CET) in the Kaliningrad exclave. Official forecasts are expected immediately afterwards.
Putin has ruled alternately as president and prime minister since 1999, longer than any other politician in Moscow since Josef Stalin. The Soviet dictator died in 1953 after 29 years of rule. Putin annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014 and has been waging an all-out war against Ukraine for more than two years, denying it the right to an independent existence. Tomorrow, Monday, will be the tenth anniversary of the announcement of the annexation of Crimea. Giving a concert on Red Square in Moscow to mark the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula ten years ago. The event is also intended to serve as a victory celebration for Putin.