Imprisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has called for protests against President Vladimir Putin during next month's presidential election.
Navalny called on voters to come out en masse at noon on voting days and form long voting lines as a sign of opposition.
"It could be a powerful demonstration of national sentiment. Real voters versus the fiction of e-voting. Real people standing in line to vote against Putin, versus fake and bogus 'yes' votes," Navalny said on Feb. 1 in a post on the X network.
Navalny, who last month marked the one-year anniversary of his imprisonment on charges believed to be politically motivated, said the idea was to make the operation "completely legal and safe" during the three-day election, ending on the 17th. in March.
In social media posts, he said midday turnout was traditionally high, making it "simply impossible" to identify those voting against Putin.
"There is no way to stop this action. So, what can I do? Are they going to close the polling stations at 12 o'clock? Are they going to organize an action in support of Putin at 10 o'clock? Are they going to register everyone who came at noon and put them on the list of untrustworthy?" he asked.
"This will be a national protest against Putin, close to where you live. It's available to everyone, everywhere. Millions of people will be able to participate. And tens of millions of people will be able to witness it," he added, noting that the original idea came from his longtime friend and former member of the St. Petersburg City Council Maksim Reznik.
Putin was officially registered as a candidate earlier this week in an election expected to handily defeat main opponents - including Navalny - who are in prison or out of the country after fleeing for security reasons.
Russian elections are strictly controlled by the Kremlin, the elections are not free and the authorities exclude opposition candidates, intimidate voters, falsify ballots and manipulate in other ways.
"I have already said that simply participating in the elections and voting against Putin is not a fight against him, but self-delusion," Navalny wrote.
"Actually, this is exactly what Putin wants you to do: come and vote as you like (witch Panfilova will take care of everything), but do nothing else. You should consider yourself to be fighting this way," he wrote.
Navalny, who nearly died of poisoning with a nerve agent of the "Novichok" type in 2020, for which he blames Russian security operatives who worked on Putin's orders, was detained on January 17, 2021 at the airport in Moscow after arriving from Germany, where he treated for poisoning.
He was then sentenced to 2,5 years in prison for violating the terms of his earlier parole while recuperating abroad. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in Navalny's poisoning.
The original ruling is considered a fabricated, politically motivated case.
In March 2022, Navalny received a nine-year prison sentence on charges of contempt of court and embezzlement by fraud that he and his supporters have repeatedly dismissed as politically motivated.
Later, Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation and his network of regional offices were declared "extremist" organizations and banned after his arrest, prompting another investigation into him on charges of extremism.
In August of last year, the court extended Navalj's prison sentence to 19 years and sent him to an institution with a stricter "special regime" from the maximum security prison where he was held.
Last month, Navalny was transferred to a "special regime" prison in Russia's Arctic region, "Polar Wolf".
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