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Voters line up at a polling station in Moscow at 12 noon local time.
Kremlin opponents had previously called for the “Lunch Against Putin” campaign.
© Uncredited/AP/dpa
People across Russia took part in protests against the re-election of Kremlin leader Putin on Sunday.
The influx is particularly large in the metropolises of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Moscow - Thousands of people took part in the silent protest against the re-election of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow and St. Petersburg on the last day of the presidential election in Russia.
Those close to the opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who died in a prison camp, reported that long queues formed at polling stations at 12 noon local time (10 a.m. CET) during the “Lunch against Putin” campaign organized by the Kremlin opponent's team on Sunday in cities with over a million inhabitants.
Russian voters responded en masse to the call to show their rejection of Putin by attending lunchtime.
There were also numerous participants in the actions in many other Russian cities.
Navalny's team showed numerous videos and photos of the actions in a live stream on YouTube.
The opposition figure Leonid Volkov, a close confidante of Navalny in exile in the Baltics, spoke of an “explosion” of resistance to a fifth term in office for Putin.
A queue had also formed in front of polling station 31 in Moscow, as a reporter from the German Press Agency reported on site.
The electoral district is small, but more than 50 people were there at lunchtime.
Rejected candidate Nadezhdin takes part in election protest
The opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin, who was excluded from the presidential election, took part in the peaceful protest “Lunch against Putin” in Moscow.
At the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, where there is a polling station, he was greeted with great applause by students, according to a video he posted on Telegram on Sunday.
“I think you will still have a chance to vote for me,” he told those gathered.
He announced that he would publish his own post-election surveys after the polls closed.
Their results were very different from what the authorities expected, he said.
Vladimir Putin has dominated Russian politics for almost a quarter of a century.
© Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin Pool/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
In the video, Nadezhdin is surrounded by dozens of students chanting his name and later the name of the university.
The politician, who teaches at the university, thanked them for the support and promised to continue fighting.
His goal is for his Citizens' Initiative party to win in the coming parliamentary election.
Navalny's team complains of mass fraud
The opposition suggested that voters invalidate the ballot papers by ticking several of the four candidates.
There was also the option of using a random generator on the cell phone invented by Navalny that output a candidate name.
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Navalny's team complains about mass fraud in the vote.
According to the Navalny team, the action against Putin should also show that, according to many independent observers, the voter turnout information is manipulated.
The authorities in Russia had sometimes warned against such protests and threatened people with charges of extremism.
In some cases, voters published ballot papers on social networks with the word murderer next to Putin's name.
Some people simply wrote Navalny's name on the ballot paper.
An older man said, referring to the opposition leader who died in February: “My president is no longer among the living.”
Navalny is buried in Moscow.
Arrests reported during election protests
According to civil rights activists, dozens of people were arrested during the protests.
In total, the Ovd-Info organization counted around 50 arrests across the country by early Sunday afternoon - almost half of them in the city of Kazan.
People in Moscow and St. Petersburg were also affected.
Many of them wanted to line up in long lines in front of their polling stations at exactly 12:00 noon local time in order to show their dissatisfaction with the re-election of Kremlin leader Putin, which the opposition classified as undemocratic.
Navalnaya at a demonstration against Putin in Berlin
Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya also took part in protests against Putin near the Russian embassy in Berlin on Sunday.
Navalny's team published footage on Telegram in the afternoon that showed Navalnaya accompanied by spokeswoman Kira Yarmysch in the middle of a crowd on Wilhelmstrasse.
You can also see Navalnaya being hugged by a woman.
The team wrote the words “Lunch against Putin”.
Russia's election commission reports higher turnout than in 2018
According to the election management, the turnout is higher than in the previous vote in 2018. The value of 67.54 percent from then had been exceeded as of 11:50 a.m. CET, reported the Russian state news agency Tass, citing the election commission.
Two hours later, returning officer Ella Pamfilova said turnout was around 70.8 percent.
In addition, millions of people voted online - reportedly partly due to pressure from authorities.
Despite Putin's seemingly certain victory, the power apparatus is aiming for a high voter turnout in order to make the result appear legitimate.
Critics, however, complain that the online process in particular is easy to manipulate.
Independent observers criticize the fact that many citizens were pushed to the polls by their state employers.
Not only is this illegal, but voters' reported request to send photos of the ballot paper to superiors is also considered a violation of election law.
dpa