“Noon against Putin” sounded in Russia but also in Paris. Thousands of people queued in front of the Russian embassy on Boulevard Lannes.
Many denounced a presidential election tailor-made for the re-election of Vladimir Putin. The opposition had called on Russians to go to polling stations at midday on Sunday to pay tribute to Alexeï Navalny, who died in mid-February in a prison in a remote region of the Arctic. “If Putin gets 3 to 5% here, it will be a success for him,” quipped one opponent.