Russians Rally in Defiance Against Putin in Nationwide Poll Protest

In Russia, the "noon against Putin" action continues, reportedly led by Navalny's team. Huge lines of people voting against the regime have formed in front of polling stations. Pictures of ballots with offensive slogans aimed at the dictator are also being published online. First reports of arrests are emerging.

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"Putin is a murderer", "No to war", "Freedom for Russia", "Peace in Ukraine", "Navalny" - these are just a few of the slogans seen on the ballots being put into the boxes. Russians are also writing dozens of insults addressed to Vladimir Putin, who today will declare himself the President of Russia.

The "noon against Putin" action continues in Russia. "Come to the polling station at exactly 12:00 GMT, get in line, and vote for anyone but Putin" - was the instruction distributed by opposition media.

Tens of thousands of people started storming the polling stations a few minutes before the official start of the action. Photos and recordings came from Moscow, St. Petersburg, or Rostov. About 100 people gathered in front of polling station No. 2160 near the building of Moscow State University in Moscow. A National Guard vehicle was parked nearby.

In St. Petersburg, as in Moscow, at noon, queues were forming at many polling stations. The photos published by Agenstwo.Nowosti were taken in front of three election commissions.

Russians are also taking part in the action abroad. The line to the polling station in Serbia's Belgrade is over 0.8 kilometres long.

Dozens of people are also waiting in line at the station in the capital of Lithuania. Lines are forming in front of the station in Dubai as well.

In Tbilisi, the vocalist of the "Pornofilmy" band performed the song "This Will Pass" at a rally against Putin. In Georgia, Russians have no chance to vote because there is no Russian consulate in the country.

Russians are also massively destroying the ballots. Many of them feature anti-war slogans or the name of Navalny - the Russian oppositionist who was murdered by the Kremlin regime. Alexei Navalny was Putin's greatest enemy and at the same time a threat to his presidency.

Navalny revealed a series of corruption scandals linked with the Kremlin. Tens of thousands of Russians said goodbye to the oppositionist on the day of his funeral, often risking their freedom.

As reported by the Astra and OVD-Info Telegram channels, in Kazan at least 20 people were arrested. The reason was alleged participation in the action against Putin.

The "Groza Kazan" channel reports that the police are prohibiting students from participating in voting. They can return to polling stations "in two or three hours".