(Moscow) Russians vote on Sunday for the third and final day of a tailor-made ballot intended to triumphantly re-elect Vladimir Putin, the opposition having been eradicated and the Kremlin presenting national unity as a patriotic duty, in the midst of an assault against ‘Ukraine.
Critics of the Russian president, who has been in charge of the country for 24 years, will nevertheless try to make themselves heard, despite warnings from the authorities, by calling on their supporters to come and vote en masse at midday.
Initial estimates and the results of a survey by a state institute, Vtsiom, should be known shortly after the last polling stations close at 3 p.m. (Eastern time) in the Kaliningrad enclave.
The outcome of the vote, in which Vladimir Putin, 71, faces three hand-picked and insignificant candidates, is beyond doubt. The opposition has been decimated by years of repression which has further accelerated with the conflict in Ukraine, the backdrop to these elections.
PHOTO MIKHAIL METZEL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Russian President Vladimir Putin will most likely be re-elected on Sunday for a new six-year term at the head of the country.
The whole week was marked by deadly strikes and attempted armed incursions from Ukraine into Russian territory.
On Sunday, a new drone attack blamed on Ukraine caused a fire at a refinery in southern Russia, with regional authorities reporting one death after a heart attack.
Mr. Putin swore revenge on Friday, while these attacks come in response to the daily bombing of Ukraine by Russia since February 24, 2022.
The master of the Kremlin, who can count on very real popularity, sees the election as a demonstration of unity of the Russians behind him.
“We must confirm our unity and determination to move forward,” he insisted on Thursday, deeming it “critical not to turn away from the path”, the country being, in his mind, the target of a war hatched by the West.
The opposition at noon
A vision shared by many of his compatriots.
“The actions that the West inflicts on us only further unite the Russian people,” swears to AFP Lyubov Piankova, a 70-year-old retiree from Saint Petersburg, the head of state’s hometown.
Vladimir Putin’s main critics are dead, in prison or in exile, a repression that culminated with the mysterious death of Alexei Navalny in a prison in a remote region of the Russian Arctic.
If the opponents have no chance of influencing the vote, they nevertheless want to show that they exist, as during Navalny’s funeral when crowds paid tribute to him in Moscow.
Yulia Navalnaïa, who despite her exile promised to take up the torch from her late husband, called on her supporters to go to the polls at the same time, at noon Sunday (5 a.m. Eastern time), and to vote for whatever what other candidate than Putin.
PHOTO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police officers investigate near a polling station targeted by a Molotov cocktail on March 15.
Authorities in the capital have warned against any form of protest.
The first days of voting took place without a hitch, apart from a few isolated incidents: paint poured into ballot boxes, attempted fires, etc. But the precise reasons for these acts were not revealed. Several of their perpetrators were imprisoned.
Incursions and drones
Regarding Ukraine, while the conflict has probably cost the lives of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, Moscow strives to triumphantly present recent conquests and to emphasize that Russia is gambling for its survival in the face of West.
But Moscow’s progress remains limited and attacks on Russian territory from Ukraine are increasing in the midst of the presidential election.
All week, the Russian army said it was repelling attempted armed incursions from neighboring Ukraine in the Belgorod and Kursk regions, assaults claimed by anti-Putin units claiming to be composed of Russians.
Again on Saturday, one of these groups, “Legion Freedom of Russia”, called on civilians to evacuate the city of Belgorod: “you do not have to be Putin’s human shields”.
Several people have died in these regions in recent days in addition to drone, rocket and artillery attacks, even if Russian anti-aircraft defense seems able to shoot down most of the projectiles.
But some reach their targets, or their debris causes casualties and damage.
Several refineries were affected, sometimes hundreds of kilometers from the front such as the regions of Samara or Nizhni-Novgorod. Russian authorities have not said whether these drones came from Ukraine or from within Russia, where arrests of suspected saboteurs are also increasing.
Moscow, for its part, continues its bombing of Ukraine. A strike killed 21 people in Odessa on Friday.