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Russia elections: Protesters arrested on final day of vote set to give Vladimir Putin fifth term - BBC News Russia elections: Protesters arrested on final day of vote set to give Vladimir Putin fifth term - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Frances Read Will Vernon
Reporting from outside London's Russian embassy BBC News, Washington DC
There’s a queue here that stretches back as far as the
eye can see. People stand in groups. There are families, young people and
older.
They’re here to vote, but many we spoke to also said they
were here as part of the so-called “midday protests” put forward by Yulia Navalnaya.
The aim was to undermine the almost inevitable
announcement of an easy and large victory for Putin.
Because of the length of the queue in London, it’s not certain that everyone here today will have chance to vote. A
In Russia, large numbers gathering at once would be seen as unauthorised mass event. That’s not the case in London. couple of hundred people are queuing outside the Russian Embassy in Washington
The Russian embassy has said on social media that voting would continue in London until 20:00 GMT this evening. DC to “vote” in this tightly-controlled election in which no genuine
opposition is allowed.
Many of them are holding anti-Putin banners and flags.
They’ve come here for the “Noon Against Putin” - supporters of Alexei
Navalny called on Russians to attend polling stations at midday and register
any kind of protest vote against Vladimir Putin.
Like in many other Russian embassies around the world, a
polling station is open here for Russians living in the US to cast their votes.
One protestor, Nadya, is wearing a badge with the
Ukrainian flag on it. “This election is a show,” she tells me, and adds “Putin has
decided to elect himself”.
Nadya says today’s event is a good opportunity to
show how many Russians at home and abroad don’t support the Kremlin.
Many of the Russians here today were forced to leave
Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago: some feared
being mobilised and sent to the front, others fled mounting repression.
Some
simply didn't feel comfortably living in a country that had launched such a war
against its neighbour.
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