Sergey Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin is poised to extend his near quarter of a century of rule for six more years as early returns announced after polls closed in Russia showed he had nearly 88% of the vote with 24% of the precincts counted, according to Russia’s Central Election Commission.
The election took place after a relentless crackdown on dissent — and amid attacks within Russia by Ukrainian missiles and drones, which have killed several people.
Polling happened in a tightly controlled environment where Mr Putin faced competition from only three token rivals and any public criticism of him or his war in Ukraine is stifled.
Mr Putin’s fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile. Beyond the fact that voters have virtually no choice, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited.
Mr Navalny’s associates had urged those unhappy with Mr Putin or the war to protest by coming to the polls at noon on Sunday — and lines outside a number of polling stations both inside Russia and at its embassies around the world appeared to swell at that time.
Among those heeding call was Yulia Navalnaya, Mr Navalny’s widow, who joined a long line at the Russian Embassy in Berlin as some in the crowd applauded and chanted her name.
She spent more than five hours in the line and told reporters after casting her vote that she wrote her late husband’s name on the ballot.
Asked whether she had a message for Putin, Ms Navalnaya replied: “Please stop asking for messages from me or from somebody for Mr. Putin. There could be no negotiations and nothing with Mr. Putin, because he’s a killer, he’s a gangster.”
The OVD-Info group that monitors political arrests said 80 people were arrested in 20 cities across Russia on Sunday.
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