Vladimir Putin accused on friday to Ukraine of trying to disrupt Russia’s presidential elections bombing Russian territory and using 2,500 armed soldiers to try to cross the borders of their country. He also promised to punish kyiv for his actions.
He First day of Russian elections marred by series of incidentssuch as the pouring of paint into the ballot boxes, the throwing of a Molotov cocktail at a polling station in President Vladimir Putin’s hometown and computer attacks.
Voting in Russia
Millions of Russians voted in all 11 zones country time at the start of a three-day election that is almost certainly They will give Putin six more years at the head of the country with the most surface area in the world.
TheShadow of the Ukrainian war covered the elections, What Putin said were repeated bombings of Russia’s western regions and an attempt by Ukrainian supporters to cross into the country’s territory in two Russian regions.
“These enemy attacks will not go unpunished,” Putin saidvisibly angry, at a meeting of the Russian Security Councilwhich includes military and spy chiefs, as well as the most powerful civilian state officials.
The attacks in the different territories of Russia
Putin said there was four attacks in the Belgorod region and one in the Kursk region of supporters of Ukraine, around 2,500. He added that They had 35 tanks and 40 armored vehicles and 60% of the soldiers died.
Ukrainian officials They said earlier on Friday thate Ukrainian-based Russian armed groups opposed to the Kremlin carried out the attacks in the Belgorod and Kursk regions.
In the midst of the Ukraine war, the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, Putin, 71, dominates the Russian political landscape and none of the other three candidates on the ballot pose a challenge.
Incidents at the polls in the Russian presidential vote
In Moscow, Crimea and the Caucasian region of Karachayevo-Cherkessia dyes were poured into the ballot boxes, according to Russian media, in apparent protests against the Kremlin. The IFVideo surveillance footage of an ink spill incident They showed a young woman depositing her ballot before calmly pouring a green liquid into the ballot box. A police officer arrested her immediately afterwards.
At a polling station A Molotov cocktail was thrown in St. Petersburg and a 21-year-old woman was detained, the Fontanka news site reported. There were attempted arson attacks at polling stations in Moscow and Siberia.
The consequences for people who want to disrupt the vote in Russia
The head of the Russian electoral commissionElla Pamfilova, said that the authors of such acts faced penalties of up to five years in prisonand suggested that they had been paid by those who intended to disrupt the vote.
“Everyone listen carefully”said Pamfilova, before exposing the article of the Criminal Code that deals with the disruption of the work of electoral commissions. “Especially for all the bastards who are willing to destroy the votes of the people for these pieces of silver”Pamfilova said, according to the state news agency TASS.
At 15:40 GMT, Participation throughout the country was high, around 26.6%. The demand for electronic voting was so high that the system was overloaded.
He Kremlin claims that Putinin power as president or prime minister since the last day of 1999, will win because he has broad support to rescue Russia from post-Soviet chaos and stand up to what it sees as an arrogant and hostile West.
Source: Ambito
