Long queues in front of several polling stations in the center of Moscow since 12pm, Russian time when "Noon against Putin" began, the protest inherited from Alexei Navalny, the opponent who died last month in an Arctic penal colony. A queue of several hundred people had formed on the historic Arbat Street. The police limit themselves to monitoring the situation and regulating the flow of voters. Various media and social media also show queues at other polling stations, including one in St. Petersburg.
Vladimir Putin meanwhile is moving towards a plebiscite. Official data report a massive participation of voters in the presidential elections, even in the annexed Ukrainian territories, while what the authorities define as "acts of vandalism" are multiplying at the polling stations (at least 70 people arrested across Russia due to protests at the polling stations, according to the NGO Ovd-Info) to which Moscow responds by accusing Western countries of having inspired them and their diplomats in Russia of "interference" in the vote.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) estimated that turnout across the country reached 55% at the end of the second of three days of voting, which ends today. The final figure could therefore significantly exceed the 67% recorded in the 2018 elections, when voting took place on just one day. What stands out are the data relating to the Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Moscow's troops and annexed to Russia, where voting operations began on February 25th. In Zaporizhzhia the figure is 72%. While the data released on Friday evening showed 69% in those of Donetsk and Kherson and 36% in that of Lugansk. As for the results, the deputy head of the CEC, Nikolai Bulayev, announced that the first partial results will begin to be announced after 9pm this evening, Moscow time (7pm in Italy), one hour after the closing of the seats in the capital.
The CEC also announced that there are at least 29 polling stations, in 20 Russian regions, where "acts of vandalism" have occurred. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova pointed the finger directly at Western countries, accusing them of "inciting people, who are obviously in connection with them, to go to the polls and commit these acts of extremism." Diplomats from these countries in Russia, added the spokeswoman speaking at a conference, "are doing everything they can to interfere in the vote".
