‘Noon against Putin’ protests as Russian leader set to extend rule in polls

Russian President Vladimir Putin is poised to tighten his grip on power in an election that is certain to deliver him a landslide victory, though thousands of opponents have staged a symbolic noon protest at polling stations.

Supporters of Putin’s fiercest political foe Alexey Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison last month, had called on Russians to come out for a “Noon against Putin” protest to show their dissent against a leader they cast as a corrupt autocrat.

Navalny’s associates, including his widow Yulia Navalnaya, have urged those unhappy with Putin, 71, or the ongoing war with Ukraine to protest by coming to the polls at noon on Sunday, a strategy endorsed by Navalny shortly before his death.

Team Navalny described it as a success, releasing pictures and videos of people crowding near polling stations in cities across Russia around noon.

At a polling station in southwest Moscow, Leonid, an 18-year-old student, said there were “not that many people” taking part in the protest but he was “just happy that some people came”.