Russia's election yesterday was marred by a series of incidents including paint being poured into ballot boxes, a Molotov cocktail thrown at a polling station in Vladimir Putin's hometown and reported cyber attacks.
Millions of Russians voted yesterday in 11 time zones in that country at the start of a three-day election in which it is almost certain that Putin will get another six-year term at the head of the largest territorial country in the world.
Paint was poured into ballot boxes in Moscow, in Russian-annexed Crimea, and in the Caucasus region of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, in apparent anti-Kremlin protests, Russian media reported.
One surveillance video showed a young woman placing a ballot in the box before calmly pouring green liquid. A policeman is shown taking her into custody immediately afterwards.
A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a polling station in St. Petersburg, and a 21-year-old woman was arrested, the Fontanka portal reported. Attempts to set fire to polling stations in Moscow and Siberia were recorded.
The head of Russia's election commission, Ela Pamfilova, said perpetrators of such acts face up to five years in prison, and suggested they were paid to obstruct the vote.
"Everyone, listen attentively," said Pamfilova, before introducing the article of the Criminal Code that refers to the disruption of the work of election commissions. "Especially the scum who is ready to destroy the votes of the people for the sake of silver coins," said Pamfilova, as reported by the TASS agency:
By 18.40:26,6 Moscow time, turnout across the country was high, around XNUMX%. The demand for electronic voting was so great that the system was overwhelmed.
The Kremlin says Putin will win because he enjoys strong support for saving Russia from post-Soviet chaos and standing up to what it calls an arrogant, hostile West.
The elections are taking place in the shadow of the war in Ukraine, and the Russian Ministry of Defense has announced that Ukrainian mediators have been persistently trying to break through the Russian border for the past three days, but have been rebuffed.
At least three children were killed in Ukrainian rocket attacks on the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk, the mayor said. In several attacks, the Russian region of Belgorod was also hit by rockets, where two people were killed and 23 people were injured.
Putin accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt the vote by trying to scare people and said their actions would not go unpunished.
"These hostile attacks will not go unpunished," a visibly angry Putin said at a meeting of the Russian Security Council, which includes military and spy chiefs as well as the most influential civilian officials.
Ukrainian officials said earlier yesterday that Russian armed groups based in Ukraine and opposed to the Kremlin carried out attacks in the Belgorod and Kursk regions.
In the deadliest attack on Ukraine in recent weeks, a Russian ballistic missile struck civilian infrastructure in the port city of Odessa, killing at least 20 people and injuring 70 others.
The Kremlin has repeatedly warned that any attempt to interfere in the elections will be considered an act of aggression. Earlier this week, Russia's foreign intelligence service said the US planned to influence the outcome.
The Electoral Commission announced yesterday that there were more than 10 attacks on electronic voting systems, but that they rejected them.
According to footage on social media, a woman wrote "Give me back my husband" on her ballot before burning it.
The spokesman for disqualified presidential candidate Boris Nadeždin said that two members of his campaign and one volunteer were detained yesterday, and that one activist was attacked at the polling station.
More than 114 million Russians are eligible to vote, including residents of what Moscow calls the "new territories" - four regions of Ukraine that it claims belong to Russia. Ukraine announced that organizing elections in those areas is illegal and futile.
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