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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)
Will Vernon
BBC News, Washington DC
A The organisers of today's "Noon against Putin" protest have praised voters for turning out at midday to register their opposition to the Russian leader and an election that they say is fixed.
couple of hundred people are queuing outside the Russian Embassy in Washington There was a clear spike in voters at polling stations in Moscow and St Petersburg and in several other cities including Perm, Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk.
DC to “vote” in this tightly-controlled election in which no genuine There were also big queues at embassies in Germany, Latvia, Armenia, Turkey and many other countries with large expat communities.
opposition is allowed. But can we be sure they were protesting?
Many of them are holding anti-Putin banners and flags. In Russia, protesters were urged not to carry placards or shout slogans so as to avoid arrest, and we already know that dozens of people have been detained. The mere fact they were turning up at noon was the point, the organisers have argued.
They’ve come here for the “Noon Against Putin” - supporters of Alexei Equally Russian state media have posted videos of big queues in Berlin and Istanbul claiming they proved the validity of the vote.
Navalny called on Russians to attend polling stations at midday and register Reporters on the ground say many of the voters in both those cities were protesters, although not all. The likelihood is that the reason most turned up at that appointed time was to make a point of protest.
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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