Yulia Navalny, the widow of Alexei Navalny, one of the most famous opponents of the Kremlin, said today that she wrote her husband's last name on the ballot for the presidential elections in Russia.
She voted today at the Russian embassy in Berlin, and earlier she called on supporters of Navalny, who died on February 16 in a prison in the Russian Arctic, to come to the polls and not vote for the current president, Vladimir Putin, whose victory is assured.
"Of course, I wrote 'Navalny' because it is not possible... that one month before the election, Putin's main opponent, who was already in prison, was killed," she told reporters after the vote.
While she was entering the embassy, Navalny's supporters chanted - "Julia, Julia, we are with you!", reported Agence France-Presse from the scene.
A few days before the vote, she invited her supporters to go to the polls at the same time, today at noon, and vote for any other candidate, except for Putin.
Yulija Navalny, who despite being in exile promised to continue her husband's fight, was in line in front of the embassy today and with a smile agreed to take a photo with supporters.
Several of them came to shake her hand and encourage her as a demonstration against Putin and his almost certain victory in the elections was held a short distance from the embassy.
Yulia Navalny knows Berlin well, as she spent several weeks in that city during her husband's recovery in 2020, when he was a victim of severe poisoning attributed to the Kremlin. When Navalny returned to Russia from Berlin in January 2021, he was immediately arrested.
Today is the third and last day of voting in the presidential elections in Russia, where Putin, who has been at the head of the country for almost 24 years, is expected to win.Putin faces three "weightless" candidates who oppose neither the invasion of Ukraine nor the repression in the country that eradicated all real opposition and culminated in Navalny's death in prison in mid-February in the Arctic Circle.
Voting also took place in Montenegro.
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In Paris, thousands of voters in front of the Russian embassy, not all of them are against Putin
Several thousand people waited in Paris in front of the Russian embassy at noon today, when the Russian opposition called for the post to be given to the late opponent of the Kremlin, Alexei Navalny, and to condemn the undemocratic presidential elections in Russia, in which the current president, Vladimir Putin, is expected to win by a landslide.
Voters waited patiently in the rain in a line more than 600 meters long, reported the Agence France-Presse from the scene.
Some voters said that they would write Navalny on the ballot, and others said that Putin is an illegitimate president.
"There is a desire to change the situation, one way or another. There is a war in Ukraine. Every year things are getting worse. I will not vote for Putin," said one voter.
However, several Russians said they would still vote for Putin.
"How can you be against Putin? He is saving the world," said one Russian living in Paris.
Another voter agreed, saying that Putin is the best president.
After the vote, several dozen people, many of whom carried the blue and white flag of the Russian opposition, started walking through the streets of Paris, shouting the slogans "Putin is a murderer!" and "Russia against the war!".
Today is the third and last day of voting in the presidential elections in Russia, where Putin, who has been at the head of the country for almost 24 years, is expected to win.
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