Voting for the presidential elections has begun in Russia.
Voting will take place until Sunday 17 March. The electoral round for the presidential elections in Russia has begun with the opening of the first polling stations in the Far East of the country.
Voting will take place until Sunday 17 March.
Voting operations are also underway in the Russian region of Belgorod, despite repeated Ukrainian attacks with drones and rockets, and the governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has posted a video of himself and his wife in front of the polling station in which he invites all citizens to go to the polls.
"My wife and I - says Gladkov - are going to our polling station to do what each of us must do. Make a choice, a choice for the future for us, for our children. Vote for the President of the Russian Federation. We're sure you're all doing the same thing."
Gladkov himself had said that this morning seven Ukrainian rockets were hit in the region and that two people were injured.
An appeal to Russians to go and vote in the name of "patriotism" to respond to the "difficulties" of the moment was launched by Vladimir Putin, who is running for the presidential elections scheduled for Friday to Sunday to obtain a fifth mandate.
While Ukraine and pro-Kiev Russian militias intensify attacks on Russian territory in an attempt to create a climate of insecurity around the consultation.
The Moscow prosecutor's office, meanwhile, has warned citizens against taking part in the 'Midday against Putin' protest initiative on Sunday, promoted first by the opponent Alexei Navalny and after his death by his team, to ask citizens to all go to the polls that day at 12pm to show their opposition to the president.
Taking part in these events, the prosecutor's office warned, "is punishable by law."
“It is only up to you, Russian citizens, to determine the future of the Motherland,” Putin said in a televised address, stressing that the population must “respond to challenges in a dignified manner and successfully overcome difficulties.”
The head of the Kremlin is running for election to be confirmed as leader of the country, building on the successes achieved in the field by his troops in recent months.
In particular with the conquest of the town of Avdiivka in Donbass in February.
Since then, Moscow's forces have continued to slowly advance, while Kiev's are showing all their difficulties, due to the lack of men but also of ammunition, due to the decrease in Western aid.
Ukraine should recognize its military defeat and move to "complete and unconditional surrender", former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned.
While from Brussels the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, stated that "Ukraine needs more support and it needs it now", warning that "it is a critical moment and it would be a historic mistake to let Putin win".
The Ukrainians respond to defeats in the field with increasingly deadly drone attacks on Russian energy facilities up to hundreds of kilometers from the border and with support for Russian paramilitary groups part of the Ukrainian forces who have claimed responsibility for incursions into Russian territory in recent days.
The Russian National Guard said it had also engaged in fighting today, together with border guard and army units, to stop an infiltration attempt near the village of Tetkino, in the Kursk region.
And the Defense Ministry said Moscow's troops thwarted another attack near the village of Spodariushino in the Belgorod region, eliminating "195 enemies and 5 tanks."
But drones and rockets from Ukraine continued to fall on the latter region for much of the day, killing at least two civilians and wounding nine, the governor said.
However, in Ukraine, the management of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant reported a harmless Ukrainian bombing near "critical infrastructure" of the plant.
Kiev accompanied the military attacks with an exhortation to the international community to "refrain from recognizing the results of the elections", which are also held in the territories of the four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Moscow, calling them a "farce".
The widow of Navalny, who died in detention a month ago, did the same yesterday in an article in the Washington Post.
Yulia Navalnaya called on Western leaders "not to recognize Putin as the legitimate president of Russia", calling him "a gangster".
"Sometimes respected newspapers publish very poor quality materials," Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov limited himself to commenting.
Meanwhile, confirming the climate of repression of the opposition in which the elections are taking place, a Moscow court has sentenced two alleged young collaborators of Navalny, Alina Olekhnovich and Ivan Trofimov, to three and a half years in prison, accusing them of having taken part in a "extremist community".
While from Washington the spokesperson of the US National Security Council, John Kirby, stated that the aggression suffered in Lithuania by Navalny's former right-hand man, Leonid Volkov, shows that the threats to the Russian opposition are "very concrete".
"In Russia we know what the situation is, there is little to comment on. Something truly serious has happened with the death of Navalny and with the attack on even his closest collaborator", the Foreign Minister observed for his part Antonio Tajani in reference to the beating of Volkov in Vilnius, for which Lithuania believes "the Russian services" were directly involved.
For further information Agenzia ANSA 114 million Russians voting in 11 time zones - News - Ansa.it Just over 114 million Russians are called to the polls from 15 to 17 March for the presidential elections, in which Vladimir Putin is showing up to get a fifth mandate.
(HANDLE)
Video Putin to citizens: 'Go and vote for your homeland'
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