Small pockets of resistance as Russia votes in election certain to extend Putin rule

Voters in Russia headed to the polls across 11 time zones yesterday for a three-day presidential election all but certain to extend Vladimir Putin’s 24-year rule until at least 2030.

- Pjotr Sauer

 

Putin is facing no meaningful opposition after the Russian authorities barred two candidates who voiced their opposition to the war in Ukraine from running. Three other politicians running in the election do not directly question his authority and their participation is meant to add a facade of legitimacy to the race.

The first presidential election since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine did not begin without incident. Local authorities in at least five regions, including Russia-annexed Crimea, reported cases of voters spilling green antiseptic dye into ballot boxes and incidents of arson at polling stations.

Russia’s electoral commission reported it had faced more than 10,500 cyber-attacks and a government website used for online voting was unavailable in some Russian regions for much of the day.

In angry comments yesterday, Putin lashed out at Kyiv for a continuing raid along the Russian border that he said was an attempt to “disrupt the voting process [and] intimidate people in at least those areas which border Ukraine ”.

The start of the voting also came hours after one of the deadliest Russian strikes on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa , which killed at least 20 people when two rockets fired from Crimea struck a residential area.