‘Noon against Putin’, Molotov cocktails and dye in ballot boxes – how Russians protested the election
Across three days of voting there have been scattered incidents of Russians defying authorities in acts of protest against Vladimir Putin.
The president is all but assured to win another six-year term in office, facing a lack of any credible opposition and amid reports of voting irregularities.
Despite the seemingly preordained outcome, some Russians engaged in acts of defiance to express their opposition.
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People queue to vote around noon in Moscow. Pic: Reuters
‘Noon against Putin’
Associates of Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader who was found dead last month, had urged voters to turn to vote at the same time, midday on Sunday, as a symbolic protest.
It was a strategy endorsed by Mr Navalny himself shortly before his death.
It was seen as a safer way of demonstrating in a country where freedom of speech has been repeatedly constrained, but the Kremlin previously warned of legal consequences for anyone taking part.
Queues of people formed on polling stations in Moscow, and Mr Navalny’s team released pictures and videos of people crowding near polling stations in cities across Russia around noon.
However, it is not clear how many of those had heeded the call and were there for the “noon against Putin” demonstrations.
At least 74 people were arrested on Sunday across Russia, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors crackdowns on dissent.
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Cheers for Yulia Navalnaya at anti-Putin protest
Protests were held outside Russia, where citizens were voting at embassies.
Among them was Mr Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, who has become the face of the opposition after her husband’s sudden death.
In Berlin, where she joined the queue, she was welcomed with cheers and chants of “Yulia, Yulia” by the crowd.
Meanwhile, outside the Russian embassy in London, several people lined up to cast their ballots.
Aleksandra Kallenberg, 19, told Sky News she queued for an hour to vote in her first election after arriving in the UK in October.
“I spoiled my ballot. At least the government will know they don’t have our support. While Putin is leader I will not go back to Russia but I hope to go back when Russia is free,” she said.
In Paris, rain did not stop thousands of people from gathering outside the embassy, while a large queue was reported outside the consulate in Istanbul and a protest was reported in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
Scattered protests have taken place across Russia. Pics: Reuters/Telegram
Pouring dye into boxes – and Molotov cocktails
There have been reports of Russians pouring dye into voting boxes and lighting Molotov cocktails in scattered acts of protest against the election.
Russia’s electoral commission said attempts to spoil ballot papers were reported at 29 polling stations, including 20 where people tried to pour liquids into ballot boxes.
Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova said there had also been arson attempts at eight polling stations and the attempted use of a smoke pellet at another.
Russian media say two women were arrested after pouring green dye into ballot boxes on the outskirts of Moscow.
Such an act of protest could land them up to five years in prison, authorities said.
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“These are the methods used by our traitors who fled the country, who are used both in the tail and in the mane by those who fight Russia,” Ms Pamfilova said on Friday.
She described the protesters as “scum”.
Elsewhere, in a remote Urals region and in the city of St Petersburg, protesters tried to destroy ballot boxes using Molotov cocktails, state media reported.
‘Noon against Putin’
“Noon against Putin” was Alexei Navalny’s last political request of the Russian people: Go out at noon on the last day of voting to show that you’re against Putin.
Vote for anyone else, spoil the ballot paper, do what you will, but the point being to queue to vote at that specific time so it is known that there are still people in Russia who don’t agree with Vladimir Putin and with his hollowed out sham of a democracy.
People have come out at polling stations in the big cities as noon rolled across Russia’s vast expanse.
Not in huge numbers but they have come – in cities like Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Novosibirsk, St Petersburg and of course Moscow.
It is hard to estimate numbers, for queues of people at individual polling stations but there is enough social media video filtering through to show that hundreds possibly thousands had turned up for noon. In Moscow certainly, where foreign broadcasters and the main news agencies are still operating, there were notable queues.
Some our team spoke to in Moscow were hesitant even to admit they were heeding Mr Navalny’s call by turning up at this time; after all, noon is as good a time as any to cast your vote. But it is as good a way of protesting as there is, when protest is banned and the authorities warning on Friday already that any kind of rally at noon would be considered a criminal act.
This was never going to be a revolutionary moment. That is almost inconceivable in wartime Russia now, although Russia’s extraordinary history does have precedent.
But “noon against Putin” was another moment to show people that they are not alone, to flex the opposition muscle – just as people did when they queued to give their signatures to the anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin, or to lay flowers at Mr Navalny’s grave.
It is better to do something than nothing at all, even if all it does is help you sleep better at night.
As per the old maxim which Mr Navalny himself would often quote: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
World
Up to a million Palestinians could be ‘permanently relocated’ to war-torn Libya under US plans
Up to a million Palestinians could be permanently relocated from devastated Gaza to war-torn Libya under plans being worked on by Donald Trump’s administration, NBC News reports.
The idea has been discussed with Libya’s leadership, sources told Sky’s US partner network, and would potentially see billions of dollars in frozen Libyan funds released.
The North African country remains divided in two – nearly 14 years after the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi sparked a civil war – with two rival governments fighting for control.
It comes as Israel continues a campaign of airstrikes on Gaza, with 93 people killed and hundreds injured on Friday, according to local medics.
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Sky’s team saw bodies arrive at Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital
No final agreement on any Libya plans have been reached, sources told NBC News, and US government agencies did not respond to requests for comment from the news outlet.
Previous suggestions to resettle Palestinians from Gaza – voluntarily or otherwise – have provoked international outcry, particularly from Arab states who likely will play a role in rebuilding the enclave after any permanent ceasefire deal.
And Libya is far from a safe nation, according to the US State Department’s own travel advice, which says Americans should not travel to the country “due to crime, terrorism, unexploded landmines, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict”.
President Trump, speaking on the final day of his Middle East trip, said he was looking to resolve a range of global crises, including Gaza.
“We’re looking at Gaza,” he said. “And we’ve got to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving. A lot of people are – there’s a lot of bad things going on.”
An Israeli tank nears the border with Gaza. Pic: Reuters
There had been hopes that his tour of the region could increase the chances of a ceasefire deal or prompt Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza that is preventing humanitarian aid from getting in.
But instead Israel has continued to launch airstrikes on the territory, killing more than 250 people in the last two days, according to Hamas-run health authorities.
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The Israeli military, which had dropped leaflets on the northern town of Beit Lahia ordering residents to leave, said their airforce had struck more than 150 military targets across Gaza in recent days.
This week, Israel said it had bombed the European Hospital because it was home to an underground Hamas base, but Sky News analysis has cast doubt on its evidence.
Israeli officials said the latest strikes were a prelude to a larger military campaign in Gaza aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages.
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Ahmed Abu Riziq, founder of the Gaza Great Minds Foundation, which seeks to give children access to education in Gaza, said “the hell doors opened” in the last few days.
Speaking to Sky News from Gaza City, he said: “Myself with my family, we had to flee today from some certain areas in northern Gaza City… people are running in the streets. They don’t know where to go or where to sleep at night. So it’s really catastrophic.”
“No food is entering Gaza,” he added, saying that people are dying from hunger.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this month that Israel plans to seize all of Gaza and hold it indefinitely.
Tom Fletcher, head of the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, warned the Security Council this week it must “act now” to “prevent genocide” – a claim Israel vehemently denies.
Russia and Ukraine failed to agree to a ceasefire in their first direct talks since 2022 – as European leaders called Moscow’s approach “unacceptable” after the discussions lasted less than two hours and Vladimir Putin stayed away.
The meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, was set up at short notice on President Putin‘s behest, but he declined a challenge from Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet him in person and instead sent relatively junior representatives.
A source in the Ukrainian team told Sky News that Russia had threatened “eternal war” during the talks.
They said the Russians were not ready to talk about technical details of a ceasefire and were waiting for superiors to approve them.
Latest updates on Istanbul talks
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan chairs a meeting between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Istanbul. Pic: Reuters
Both countries said they had agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war each in what would be the biggest such exchange yet of the conflict.
But Kyiv wants the West to impose tighter sanctions unless Moscow accepts a proposal from Donald Trump for a 30-day ceasefire.
President Zelenskyy said after the meeting that he had spoken to Mr Trump by phone – alongside Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France, Germany and Poland – who all met in Albania on Friday.
In a post on X, he said Ukraine was “ready to take the fastest possible steps to bring real peace” and that “tough sanctions must follow” if Russia continues to resist a month-long truce.
The Ukrainian delegation. Pic: Reuters
The Russian delegation. Pic: Reuters
Frustration over Russia‘s perceived stalling in holding serious negotiations was also clear from the European leaders gathered in Tirana.
“The Russian position is clearly unacceptable, and not for the first time,” said Sir Keir.
“So as a result of that meeting with President Zelenskyy and that call with President Trump we are now closely aligning our responses and will continue to do so.”
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The talks were held in Dolmabache Palace in Istanbul. Pic: AP
The UK prime minister said the no-show by Russia’s leader was “more evidence that Putin is not serious about peace” and has “been dragging his heels”.
NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte, who was also in Albania, said President Putin had made a “big mistake” by sending low-level delegates to Istanbul.
A list of representatives ahead of the meeting listed presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, deputy foreign minister Galuzin Mikhail Yuryevich and deputy defence chief Alexander Fomin.
Ukraine’s delegation was led by defence minister Rustem Umerov.
President Zelenskyy had called the Russian team “a theatre prop” ahead of the summit in the Dolmabahce Palace.
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Ukrainian ‘despair’ over missing civilians
However, Turkey’s foreign minister heralded it as “an important day for world peace” and said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to swap 1,000 POWs each as a “confidence-building measure”.
Hakan Fidan shared a picture of the delegations and said they had “agreed to share with the other side in writing the conditions that would make it possible to reach a ceasefire”.
Russia’s Vladimir Medinsky said his team had “taken note” of the Ukrainian request for direct talks between Mr Putin and Mr Zelenskyy.
“We have agreed that each side will present its vision of a possible future ceasefire and spell it out in detail,” said Mr Medinsky.
Hopes ahead of the meeting were low after Mr Trump and his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, played down the prospect of meaningful progress.
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Trump on meeting Putin: ‘As soon as we can set it up’
The US president told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday “nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together”, while Mr Rubio said a “breakthrough” was unlikely until the US and Russian presidents meet.
No date for such a meeting has been proposed, but Mr Trump has said it will happen “as soon as we can set it up”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that top-level talks were “certainly needed” but arranging it would take time.
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Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was a notable absentee, despite attending Ukraine-focused talks with the US in Saudi Arabia in February.
Russia has so far failed to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire – proposed by European leaders who have threatened Moscow with “massive” sanctions if it doesn’t sign up. The US also supports the plan.
The Kremlin has ambitions to keep swathes of Ukrainian land as part of any long-term truce, an idea that Kyiv firmly rejects.
Russia also wants an end to Ukraine’s NATO ambitions and a promise it will stay neutral.
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