Drones target Russia as poll protests urged
MOSCOW: Russia said it was targeted by a wave of Ukrainian drones overnight on Sunday as Kremlin critics called for mass protests at polling stations on the final day of elections set to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule.
The three-day vote had already been marred by a surge in deadly Ukrainian bombardments, incursions into Russian territory by pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups and vandalism at polling stations.
Air defenses in eight Russian regions, including the capital Moscow, shot down 35 unmanned aerial vehicles, one of which sparked a fire at an oil refinery overnight, authorities said.
In Russia’s border city of Belgorod, Ukrainian shelling killed a 16-yearold girl and wounded her father, said Vyacheslav Gladkov, the Belgorod region’s governor.
“Kamikaze drones” also set a polling station ablaze in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday without causing casualties, Moscow-installed authorities said.
There were repeated acts of protest in the first days of polling, with a spate of arrests of Russians accused of pouring dye into ballot boxes or arson attacks.
Before his death in an Arctic prison last month, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who galvanized mass antiPutin rallies, urged Russians to protest on Sunday.
His widow Yulia Navalnaya has reiterated his call in the run-up to the election and said protesters should show up in large numbers at the same time to overwhelm polling stations.
She called for protesters to spoil ballots by writing “Navalny” on them or vote for candidates other than Putin.
Any public dissent in Russia has been harshly punished since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022, and there have been repeated warnings from the authorities against election protests.
Russia’s opposition has called on people to head to the polls at midday (local time) in what they hope would be a legal show of strength against Putin.
A Moscow resident in his 20s told Agence France-Presse (AFP) he would show up at noon to vote in protest “just to see young supportive faces around ... feel some support around me, and see the light in this dark tunnel.”
The man, who declined to give his name for security reasons, said he hoped this would show the authorities “that there are people in this country against the conflict ... against the regime.”
‘Difficult period’
The 71-year-old Putin, a former KGB agent, has been in power since the last day of 1999 and is set to extend his grip over the country until at least 2030.
If he completes another Kremlin term, he will have stayed in power longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.
He is running without any real opponents, having barred two candidates who opposed the war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has cast the election as an opportunity for Russians to show they are behind the invasion of Ukraine, where voting is also being staged in Russian-held areas.
In a preelection address on Thursday, Putin said Russia was going through a “difficult period.”
“We need to continue to be united and self-confident,” he said, describing the election as a way for Russians to demonstrate their “patriotic feelings.”
Ukraine has repeatedly denounced the elections as illegitimate and a “farce” and urged Western allies not to recognize the result.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, as well as more than 50 member-states, have slammed Moscow for holding the vote in parts of Ukraine.
Guterres said the “attempted illegal annexation” of those regions had “no validity” under international law.
Ahead of the election, Russian state media have played up recent gains on the front and portrayed the conflict as a fight for survival against attacks from the West.
Moscow has sought to press its advantage on the front line as divisions over Western military support for Ukraine have led to ammunition shortages, although Kyiv says it has managed to stop the Russian advance for now.