The initial day of voting in Russia’s presidential election encountered incidents of vandalism at polling stations on Friday. Authorities made at least nine arrests related to pouring dye into ballot boxes and committing arson attacks.
Ballot boxes vandalised on first day of voting during Russian Presidential Election#Russia #VladimirPutin #RussiaElections pic.twitter.com/O0u1xkj9pr
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Vladimir Putin is poised to extend his tenure in the Kremlin by another six years. The recent three-day voting process, which he personally participated in, is being portrayed as a demonstration of Russians’ unwavering loyalty and backing for his ongoing military actions in Ukraine, which have now entered their third year.
Despite the authorities’ cautionary statements, a minimum of nine individuals were apprehended for committing acts of vandalism at various polling stations on election day.
Video footage captured a woman igniting a voting booth, enveloping the polling station in smoke. Another clip depicted a woman surreptitiously pouring green dye into a ballot box, in Moscow.
In the Russian regions of Voronezh, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Rostov, four individuals were apprehended for comparable offenses. Meanwhile, in Saint Petersburg and the Siberian region of Khanty-Mansi, women faced detention after hurling Molotov cocktails at polling stations.
Additionally, a man was detained for igniting fireworks inside a polling station in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk. In Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, an explosive device was detonated at a voting site.
In the Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine, a series of Ukrainian drone and artillery strikes resulted in the loss of two lives. The intensity of these attacks makes them one of the deadliest incidents on Russian soil since the onset of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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