Kremlin critics call for mass protests on final day of Russian election: Widow of opposition leader Alexei Navalny urges voters to spoil ballots and swamp polling stations as Putin looks certain to win another six years in power

Critics of the Kremlin have called on Russian citizens en masse to protest on the third day of the country’s national elections, which look set to keep Vladimir Putin in power for another six years.

Voting ends tonight after polling stations open Friday morning. The elections are expected to be a landslide victory for Putin, who has managed to eliminate all his credible opponents.

Voters have already protested against the rigged election, with many seeing dye and paint poured into ballot boxes and polling stations set on fire.

And now Kremlin critics have called on Russians to continue protesting across the country as the polls draw to a close.

Yulia Navalny, the widow of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, called for protests ahead of the election, saying Russian citizens should simultaneously turn out en masse to overwhelm polling stations.

She called on protesters to spoil the ballots by writing “Navalny” on them, or vote for candidates other than Putin, adding that the strategy was promoted by Navalny himself before his untimely death in mid-February.

Alla Gutnikova, a former journalist living in Russia who was sentenced to two years of “corrective labor” for running a dissident magazine, urged anti-Putin Russians to go to polling stations to spoil their ballots in an animated video posted on her Instagram Story was posted. .

Maria Pevchikh, another Russian journalist and head of research at Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption group, also took to Instagram to ask voters to come to the polling stations to elect dissenting politicians.

She said, “Come to your polling station at noon sharp on Sunday. Look around you, you will see like-minded people and friends. You then ensure that there is still hope.

“Alexei Navalny asked us to do exactly the same. Let’s do this in memory of Alexei. How else?’

But others were unhappy with the insistence on voters spoiling their ballots.

Former State Duma member Ilya Ponomarev told X that voting would only benefit the Russian state as it would increase engagement rates and give Putin an air of legitimacy.

He said: The Kremlin is only interested in three things: rise, rise and more rise.

“That is why all oppositionists who come to the polling stations tomorrow will immediately help Putin, regardless of which voting strategy they choose.”

The Kremlin is aiming for a high turnout and as polling stations in western Russia opened for a third day, officials said turnout had already reached 60% nationwide in the first two days. An exit poll will be published shortly after voting ends at 6pm GMT.

Kremlin critic and chess legend Garry Kasparov, meanwhile, said the Kremlin is a “terrorist regime that understands only violence,” and called on the West to intervene with a stronger hand.

Voting takes place at polling stations in the vast country’s eleven time zones, in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine, and online. More than 60% of eligible voters had cast their votes by early Sunday.

Despite strict controls, several cases of vandalism at polling stations have been reported.

In St. Petersburg, a woman was arrested after throwing a firebomb at the entrance to a polling station, and several others were arrested across the country for throwing green antiseptic or ink into ballot boxes.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by Putin, called for toughening penalties for those who vandalize polling stations, arguing they should be charged with treason for attempting to derail the vote during the fighting in Ukraine.

In the run-up to the election, Putin has portrayed his war in Ukraine, now in its third year, as a life-and-death struggle against the West that wants to break up Russia.

The 71-year-old Russian leader faces three symbolic rivals from Kremlin-friendly parties that have refrained from criticizing his 24-year rule or his massive invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

Putin has boasted of Russian battlefield successes in the run-up to the election, but a massive Ukrainian drone strike across Russia early Sunday was a reminder of the challenges Moscow faces.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it downed 35 Ukrainian drones in one night, including four near the Russian capital. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said there were no casualties or damage.

Russia’s war economy has proven resilient and is expanding despite heavy Western sanctions. Russia’s defense industry has served as a major growth engine, working around the clock to produce missiles, tanks and ammunition.