The Russian Consulate General in Montreal was not yet closed to expatriate voters when Vladimir Putin was already obtaining a fifth term. But in the queue, avenue du Musée, the presence of many was only symbolic in any case, the games being according to them being decided in advance.
“All these so-called elections are a sinister farce,” bluntly says Maxim Afanasiev, met in front of the consulate. “The only reason to take part is purely symbolic. » At his side, his wife, Anna Blinkina, agrees, she who is highly critical of Russian power: “We denounce the government’s policies […] and hope that Russia loses the war it is waging in Ukraine. »
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Anna Blinkina
The couple wanted to be there on Sunday, even if they did not vote, since their Russian passports have expired. “Russia lets people vote, even without a passport, but you have to provide an explanation for that,” says M.me Blinkina. In my letter, I was critical of power […] and I was denied the right to vote. » Mr. Afanasiev, who instead offered family setbacks as the reason, was authorized to express his voice, but preferred to refrain from doing so out of solidarity for his partner.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Aleksei Kavun
In the street, Aleksei Kavun, who exercised his right to vote online on Friday, the first of three days of the Russian presidential election, believes that the most important element will have been the mobilization of voters at the stroke of noon. Many people, he said, responded to the call launched by Yulia Navalnaïa, the widow of opponent Alexeï Navalny, to go to consulates and polling stations at this very specific time as a sign of protest.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Several people responded to Yula Navalnaïa’s call and went to the consulates at a specific time as a sign of protest.
Moreover, Mr. Kavun echoed the ambient resignation: “We understand very clearly that this election is not legitimate and we [savions] that Putin would win. »
“The country is doing well”
Mr. Kavun, a Russian-Ukrainian who was on Alexeï Navalny’s campaign team when he ran for mayor of Moscow in 2013, also publicized a ceremony which was held that same evening in tribute to the opponent died in detention. And for this reason, he said, he was harangued by a number of Mr. Putin’s supporters, notably upon the arrival of The Press at the scene, when a man accused him of not being an “ethnic Russian.”
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Aleksei Kavun is questioned by a Russian voter favorable to the Putin regime.
If the supporters of the president in power until 2030 seem fewer in number than his critics, they are indeed present. A man, who preferred not to give his name, believes that Vladimir Putin is synonymous with stability and that he is a “strong leader”.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Vladimir Putin collected more than 87% of the votes after counting 80% of the polling stations, according to the Russian electoral commission.
Even though he has lived in Canada for around thirty years, he goes to Russia very often, he says. And “year after year, [il] sees the changes, the country is doing well.” “It’s made it great,” says the man who claims to have experienced a much less prosperous Russia during the Soviet era. However, he does not endorse the war led by Moscow in Ukraine, but does not go so far as to condemn it either. “It’s certain that I am against wars, against deaths and all that […], but unfortunately the history of humanity is written with blood. »
Tribute to Navalny
A few hundred meters from the consulate, at Christ Church Cathedral, a ceremony in tribute to Alexeï Navalny took place in the early evening. Leonid Dzhalilov, deacon of the Russian Orthodox Church, greeted an opposition figure who is in line with Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a famous dissident during the Soviet period.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Leonid Dzhalilov delivered a speech at the ceremony in memory of Alexei Navalny.
“Navalny emphasized freedom and was convinced that the truth led to freedom. That the truth would make us free, one day,” he said, in his reflection on the figure of Navalny. Throughout his life, he was an “example” for many because of his unshakeable convictions and his refusal to bow to the Russian regime, said Mr. Dzhalilov.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Leonid Dzhalilov
Asked by The Press shortly after the ceremony, the deacon who left his native Russia in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, also showed himself worried about the political situation prevailing in his country.
“My daughter is 21 years old, and she has only known Vladimir Putin’s Russia. This seems insane to me, and I hope that will change one day. I think that [Navalny] allowed many people to believe that things would change one day. »