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President Vladimir Putin mentioned Sunday that he was knowledgeable of an concept to launch his fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, from jail, days earlier than the opposition chief’s loss of life.
He mentioned that he agreed to the concept, provided that Navalny did not return to Russia.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows under.
Russians crowded outdoors polling stations at midday Sunday on the final day of a presidential election, apparently heeding an opposition name to protest in opposition to President Vladimir Putin in a vote that provided them no actual options after he ruthlessly cracked down on dissent.
Shortly after the final polls closed in Russia, early returns pointed to the conclusion everybody anticipated: that Putin would lengthen his almost quarter-century rule for six extra years. In accordance with Russia’s Central Election Fee, he had some 87% of the vote with about 60% of precincts counted.
The extraordinary early outcomes — which Putin hailed as a sign of “belief” and “hope” in him — had been one other reflection of the preordained nature of the election. The Russian chief solely confronted competitors from three token rivals and any public criticism of him or his conflict in Ukraine was stifled.
Putin’s fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic jail final month, and different critics are both in jail or in exile. Past the truth that voters had nearly no selection, impartial monitoring of the election was extraordinarily restricted.
As folks voted Sunday, Russian authorities mentioned Ukraine launched a large new wave of assaults on Russia, killing two folks.
In a tightly managed atmosphere with little room for actual protest, Navalny’s associates urged these sad with Putin or the conflict to go to the polls at midday on Sunday — and contours outdoors numerous polling stations each inside Russia and at its embassies around the globe appeared to swell at the moment.
Amongst these heeding name was Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, who joined an extended line on the Russian Embassy in Berlin as some within the crowd applauded and chanted her identify.
She spent greater than 5 hours within the line and advised reporters after casting her vote that she wrote her late husband’s identify on the poll.
Requested whether or not she had a message for Putin, Navalnaya replied: “Please cease asking for messages from me or from any individual for Mr. Putin. There could possibly be no negotiations and nothing with Mr. Putin, as a result of he’s a killer, he’s a gangster.”
Some Russians ready to vote in Moscow and St. Petersburg advised The Related Press that they had been collaborating within the protest, however it wasn’t doable to verify whether or not all of these in line had been doing so.
One lady in Moscow, who mentioned her identify was Yulia, advised the AP that she was voting for the primary time.
“Even when my vote doesn’t change something, my conscience shall be clear … for the longer term that I need to see for our nation,” she mentioned. Like others, she did not give her full identify due to safety issues.
One other Moscow voter, who additionally recognized himself solely by his first identify, Vadim, mentioned he hoped for change, however added that “sadly, it’s unlikely.”
In the meantime, supporters of Navalny streamed to his grave in Moscow, some bringing ballots along with his identify written on them.
Meduza, Russia’s greatest impartial information outlet, revealed photographs of ballots it acquired from their readers, with “killer” inscribed on one, “thief” on one other and “The Hague awaits you” on one more. The final refers to an arrest warrant for Putin from the Worldwide Legal Courtroom that accuses him of non-public duty for abductions of kids from Ukraine.
After polls closed, Putin mentioned the protests had no impact and that any crimes could be punished.
Some folks advised the AP that they had been comfortable to vote for Putin — unsurprising in a rustic the place impartial media have been crippled, state TV airs a drumbeat of reward for the Russian chief and voicing some other opinion is dangerous.
Dmitry Sergienko, who solid his poll in Moscow, mentioned, “I’m proud of all the pieces and need all the pieces to proceed as it’s now.”
Voting passed off over three days at polling stations throughout the huge nation’s 11 time zones, in illegally annexed areas of Ukraine and on-line. Whereas polls closed Sunday evening in Russia, voting continued at some embassies around the globe.
Regardless of tight controls, a number of dozen circumstances of vandalism at polling stations had been reported throughout the voting interval.
A number of folks had been arrested, together with in Moscow and St. Petersburg, after they tried to start out fires or set off explosives at polling stations whereas others had been detained for throwing inexperienced antiseptic or ink into poll containers.
Dmitry Medvedev, a deputy head of the Russian Safety Council chaired by Putin, known as for toughening the punishment for individuals who vandalize polling stations, arguing they need to face treason expenses.
Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chair of the Golos impartial election watchdog, mentioned that stress on voters from regulation enforcement had reached unprecedented ranges.
Russians, he mentioned in a social media publish, had been searched when getting into polling stations, there have been makes an attempt to verify filled-out ballots earlier than they had been solid, and one report mentioned police demanded a poll field be opened to take away a poll.
“It is the primary time in my life that I’ve seen such absurdities,” Andreychuk wrote on the messaging app Telegram, including that he began monitoring elections in Russia 20 years in the past.
The OVD-Information group that displays political arrests mentioned that 80 folks had been arrested in 20 cities throughout Russia on Sunday.
That left little room for folks to specific their displeasure, however Ivan Zhdanov, the top of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Basis, mentioned that the opposition’s name to protest had been profitable.
“The motion has proven that there is one other Russia, there are individuals who stand in opposition to Putin,” he mentioned.
Past Russia, enormous strains additionally fashioned round midday outdoors diplomatic missions in London, Berlin, Paris, Milan, Belgrade and different cities with giant Russian communities, lots of whom left house after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Protesters in Berlin displayed a determine of Putin bathing in a shower of blood with the Ukrainian flag on the aspect, alongside shredded ballots in poll containers.
Russian state tv and officers mentioned the strains overseas confirmed robust turnout. The Russian Embassy in Germany posted a video of the road in Berlin on X, previously Twitter, with the caption, “collectively we’re robust — Vote for Russia!”
In Tallinn, the place lots of stood in a line snaking across the Estonian capital’s cobbled streets resulting in the Russian Embassy, 23-year-old Tatiana mentioned she got here to participate within the protest.
“If now we have some choice to protest I believe it’s necessary to make the most of any alternative,” she mentioned, solely giving her first identify.
Boris Nadezhdin, a liberal politician who tried to affix the race on an anti-war platform however was barred from working by election officers, voiced hope that many Russians solid their ballots in opposition to Putin.
“I consider that the Russian folks at the moment have an opportunity to indicate their actual perspective to what’s occurring by voting not for Putin, however for another candidates or in another manner, which is precisely what I did,” he mentioned after voting in Dolgoprudny, a city simply outdoors Moscow.
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Observe AP’s protection of Russia’s election: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-election
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