Russian voters who defied Putin deserve our support and admiration - Steve Cardownie

Voters queue at a polling station in St. Petersburg, Russia, at noon local time on Sunday, March 17, 2024. The Russian opposition has called on people to head to polling stations at noon on Sunday in protest as voting takes place on the last day of a presidential election that is all but certain to extend President Vladimir Putin's rule after he clamped down on dissent. AP can't confirm that all the voters seen at the polling station at noon were taking part in the opposition protest.

Claiming more than 87 per cent of the vote on a record turnout of 77.5 per cent was brazen, even by his standards. The so-called election victory now returns him to office until at least 2030 when he will be 77 years of age and makes him the longest serving leader since Joseph Stalin, the former Soviet dictator.

There was no credible challenge to Putin in this election with real potential opposition candidates either jailed or barred from standing. The token rival candidate that came “closest” to him in the vote, Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party, secured just over 4 per cent of the vote.

Speaking about this latest farce, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine said: “It is clear to everyone in the world that this individual, as has happened so often in history, is simply sick with power and doing everything he can to rule for life. There is no evil he will not commit to prolong his personal power.”

“This imitation of ‘elections’ has no legitimacy and cannot have any. This person must end up in The Hague. This is what we must ensure, anyone in the world who values life and decency.”

Putin has pledged to continue with his “special military operation” (a euphemism for the Russian invasion in Ukraine) anticipating further onslaughts by Russian armed forces.

In his victory (sic) speech Putin claimed that he was securing the border from raids by pro-Ukranian military units stating that his main task would be “strengthening defence capacity and the military”.

Alex Navalny’s widow, Yulia, called on supporters of her and her late husband (who recently died in a Russian prison camp) to turn up to polling stations at 12 noon on Sunday in an act of defiance against Putin, this “noon against Putin” protest resulted in queues forming across Russia’s major cities at midday with many voters spoiling their ballot papers.

A spokesman for Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said of the protest: “We showed ourselves, all of Russia and the whole world that Putin is not Russia, that Putin has seized power in Russia.”

Last Friday, the Russian authorities, fearful that this protest was gaining traction, threatened any voters who took part in it with five years in prison, with arrests being reported in Moscow, St Petersburg and Kazan.

The constitutional changes orchestrated by Putin in 2020 allow him to seek another two six-year terms of office after this one expires next year, meaning that he could be allowed to remain in power until 2036. This prospect has done nothing to allay the fears of countries close to Russia’s borders that believe that, if successful, Putin will not stop at the subjugation of Ukraine, but will push on through their borders until his megalomaniacal ambitions have been realised.

Yulia Navalnaya thanked people for turning up to honour her husband saying: “You give me hope that everything is not in vain, that we will still fight.” The Russian voters who defied Putin, despite the risks to their own safety, deserve our support and admiration, for theirs is a quest for real democracy – not the sham election that we have just witnessed.