Some Russian voters have gone beyond voting to express their displeasure with incumbent President Vladimir Putin, with some being caught on camera setting fire to ballot boxes and other acts of vandalism.
Russian authorities arrested at least nine people on the first day of voting in an election that analysts and observers around the world have no doubt will give Putin another term as leader, making him the longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
Some people captured on camera set fire to polling stations and polling stations in protest. Elsewhere, a woman poured green dye into a ballot box, a man set off firecrackers at a polling station, and in Russian-occupied Ukraine, someone detonated an explosive device, French outlet Le Monde reported.
A woman who poured disinfectant on a ballot box at a Moscow polling station while shouting pro-Ukrainian slogans has been sentenced to three to five years in prison, Russian media BAZA reported.
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Authorities have not said whether they believe the incident may have been part of a larger coordinated effort and protest, despite the repeated use of green liquid to spoil ballots, or whether they believe it may simply have been a random incident. The use of green liquid may serve as a reference to the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was attacked in 2017 by an assailant who sprayed green disinfectant in his face.
Prosecutors warned that the government would punish anyone involved in large-scale gatherings and protests. The Associated Press reported that there were 12 incidents on the first day alone, but it is unclear whether all of them resulted in arrests.
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Voting is scheduled to run through Sunday, but more than a third of voters had cast ballots by the time polls closed Friday night. Voting was conducted both on-site and online, and online voting is open 24 hours a day until 8pm local time on Sunday.
The United Nations Security Council has convened to protest elections being held in the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine. Britain said in a statement, “The UK condemns this election as fraudulent because Russia is temporarily holding a sham election on Ukrainian territory under Russian control.” British Ambassador to the United Nations James Kariuki said, “It is an election,” he claimed. “It’s fake because of the simple truth: You can’t have a legitimate election in someone else’s country.”
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Navalny, the Putin government's fiercest opponent, died last month after collapsing in the Arctic colony from what prison officials claimed was “sudden death syndrome,” but an unnamed paramedic claiming to work at the morgue told independent news outlet Novaya He told Novaya Gazeta. Europe, where he saw bruising on the body consistent with a person being held down during a seizure.
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The Associated Press classified the remaining opposition candidates as “low-level politicians from the nominal opposition who support the Kremlin line.”
European Council President Charles Michel on Friday offered his sincere congratulations to President Putin on his election victory even before the polls closed, saying the president would win a “landslide” with “no opposition, no freedom, no choice.” said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.