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Vladimir Putin appeared visibly angry on the first day of Russia’s election following widespread reports of protests and vandalism by voters across the country.
The three-day election kicked off last night and is set to run until 6pm on Sunday – and it seems inevitable that the incumbent premier will sweep to victory yet again.
But already, videos have been posted to social media showing nationwide chaos, with Russians protesting in various ways – including at polling stations.
In footage posted to Telegram – a popular messaging app among Russians – a person can be seen allegedly urinating on Putin’s parents’ grave in St Petersburg’s Serafimovsky cemetery.
Putin addressed his security council on apparent Ukrainian-backed attacks as Russians headed to vote
Reuters/Telegram
While in Siberia, more videos emerged on social media of fires breaking out polling locations. In one, officials can be seen scrambling to extinguish a blaze after a woman attempted to set fire to a ballot box using a Molotov cocktail.
The local election commission said the perpetrator had been arrested, the fire had been successfully quelled, and there had been no casualties.
Stanislav Andreychuk, from activist group Movement for Defence of Voters’ Rights said the incidents were “a new feature of these elections”.
Andreychuk said there had been reports from a number of regions of voters pouring dye into ballot boxes, as well as Molotov cocktails like those used in Siberia being utilised to cause damage.
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Stanislav Andreychuk insisted the protestors were only harming other Russian voters
Telegram
He said: “This has never happened before and this is probably a consequence of the enormous tension and aggression it generated in society, for which the Russian authorities bear direct responsibility.”
But Andreychuk insisted the protestors were in the wrong, saying: “They do the same thing as the falsifiers from the commissions… They deprive the votes of those voters who have already voted in these boxes.
“Only, unlike the falsifiers from election commissions and administrations, they will receive real sentences.”
And while some voters burned ballot boxes, others burned the papers themselves – GB News has seen footage of one woman burning a ballot with “bring back my husband” written on it in an apparent protest against the war in Ukraine.
Earlier today, Putin was visibly irate as he accused Ukraine of taking steps to disrupt the election; in an address to Russia’s security council, he said: “In order to disrupt the voting process and intimidate people, at least in the border areas, the Kyiv regime… is trying to carry out a number of criminal actions, striking at civilian settlements in Russia – these enemy strikes shall not remain unpunished.”
Putin said all but five per cent of Ukrainian shells and missiles were downed by Russian air defence systems – but some made it past, killing Russians in the process – and claimed over 2,000 armed Ukrainian ‘proxies’ had attacked the cities of Kursk and Belgorod.
The premier said 60 per cent of the attackers had been killed, and issued a rallying cry to Russians as they headed to the polls.
Putin said: “I am sure that our people – the people of Russia – will respond to this with even greater solidarity… Who did they decide to intimidate? The Russian people?”
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