‘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
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
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In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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