As of: March 16, 2024, 10:43 a.m
By: Marcus Giebel
Comments
Press
Split
This weekend, Vladimir Putin's power is set to be cemented once again.
However, there were numerous incidents on the first day of the election.
Moscow – It's running.
But not as smoothly as Vladimir Putin and his followers had hoped.
Various incidents were documented on the first day of the Russian president's re-election, which runs until this Sunday.
And the big end will probably only arrive on Sunday afternoon.
Putin and the election in Russia: Several people make color ballots unusable
At several polling stations, people poured paint into the ballot boxes and rendered the ballot papers inside unusable.
The Telegram channel of the independent medium
Astra Press,
among others , shows various videos of such actions and sometimes refers to local reports.
One photo is said to come from Moscow, in which a woman rains a dark liquid onto the pieces of paper.
In Simferopol, another woman chooses the color green.
Another woman is said to have confessed to the authorities after her arrest that she had been offered a reward of 30,000 rubles - almost 300 euros - over the phone if she carried out such a color attack.
A man in Lytkarino near Moscow also used this color method, and a pensioner in Veliky Novgorod.
There was another such attack in the village of Kuragino in the Krasnoyarsk Region, although no ballot papers in the ballot box were damaged.
In Yekaterinburg, a man is said to have been stopped in time by a poll worker.
Fire and Color: These images show two of the incidents at Russian polling stations.
© Telegram/@astrapress
Incidents during the Putin election: Cabins destroyed by fire - law enforcement officers intervene
Other images show suspected arson attacks.
Fires can be seen here in the polling stations.
There are also scenes of people being detained or taken away by law enforcement officers.
A woman spills a flammable liquid in the voting booth.
This incident is said to have occurred in the southeast of Moscow.
In the city of Mytishchi, an elderly woman is said to have destroyed a cabin in a similar manner.
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A video shows a fire being put out in the waiting area of a polling station in Kogalym, western Siberia.
In St. Petersburg, a camera captured a person throwing a Molotov cocktail twice in front of the entrance to a house before it ignited.
She is then followed and caught by several people.
It is said to be a student.
Their target was apparently an election poster.
The young woman, like the other troublemakers, now awaits criminal proceedings.
Russia election for Putin: People throw in several ballot papers - crosses disappear due to heat
A video that the editor-in-chief of the Russian-language TV channel
Doschd,
based in Amsterdam , is said to have recorded in front of a polling station is likely to cause a particular stir.
Behind a large window facade you can see two people throwing numerous pieces of paper into the ballot boxes.
“So that’s how they throw it in.
For whom, I wonder?” the man behind the camera puzzles.
The pictures are said to have been taken in Dzerzhinsk in Nizhny Novgorod.
The Ukrainian-language Telegram channel
NEWS.GRP
shows in a video using a lighter that writing ink disappears completely when heated.
Where there were only two crosses visible, the boxes are suddenly blank again.
Therefore, citizens are advised to bring their own pens.
Two recordings are also presented here that were taken during an explosion - one of them in a polling station.
These are said to come from the city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border.
Here, Russian partisans want to destroy the positions that have been used to target civilian targets in Ukraine from their home country for around two years now.
Russia and the Putin election: An action on Sunday afternoon is intended to paralyze polling stations
The Moscow public prosecutor's office is obviously also concerned - because of alleged calls for minors to appear in concentrated numbers at predetermined polling stations at a specified time.
This means that the helpers on site will probably be overwhelmed.
It is a violation of electoral law, other citizens would be hindered in exercising their right to vote and the election commissions would be hindered in their work.
These offenses could be punishable by imprisonment under current law.
The campaign is known as “Lunch against Putin” and encourages those addressed to go to the polls on Sunday at 12 p.m.
It is also supported by supporters of the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who died in a Siberian prison camp, and the former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Job done: Vladimir Putin cast his vote online and had himself filmed.
© IMAGO / SNA
High turnout for Putin's re-election: Kremlin boss makes his cross online
Meanwhile, the Sever.Realii
portal reports
an unusually high voter turnout.
According to the Central Election Commission, 30 percent of citizens had already cast their votes by 8:18 p.m. local time.
In some regions it was even more than half, including in the embattled Belgorod.
The 2021 State Duma election is used for comparison: back then, only 9.16 percent of voters voted after the first day.
However, it is also mentioned that there are reports in the media and on Telegram about pressure on state employees to vote on the first day.
Putin has also already cast his vote.
In one video, the Kremlin leader walks into an office, sits in front of a screen and makes his cross online.
He then obediently waves at the camera before the picture shows the message that he voted successfully.
This means he can concentrate fully on his war in Ukraine again.
That should distract him from the sometimes chaotic start to his re-election.
(mg)