Presidential election in Russia: the Baltic countries denounce a vote “neither free nor fair”

The foreign ministers of the three Baltic countries estimated on Monday that the next Russian presidential election would be

, with Vladimir Putin running for re-election without a real opponent.

The Russian leader prepares to extend his two-decade grip on power in an election in March, as the West outrages the death of the Kremlin's best-known opponent , Alexei Navalny.

In a joint statement, the heads of diplomacy of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, former Soviet republics that have become members of NATO and the EU and whose relations with Moscow remain tense, denounced the

carried out against the opposition and independent media in Russia.

,” they declared, denouncing

. ”

,” they wrote.

Ministers denounce “a new blatant provocation”

Also on Monday, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry summoned a Russian diplomat to Vilnius following the death of Alexei Navalny.

The diplomat was handed a protest note and informed that

," the ministry said in a statement. .

For years, Russia has excluded opposition figures from elections and political life, a crackdown that accelerated after the Kremlin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in 2022. The election, which scheduled to take place over three days starting March 15, coincides with the tenth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea, which constitutes

,” the ministers said.

Russia also plans to hold elections in the territories it annexed in 2014 and following the invasion in 2022.

,” the ministers said.

In early February, Russia summoned diplomats from the Baltic countries after accusing them of trying to

Russia's elections by ignoring demands to secure polling stations at its embassies on their territory.