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Alleged protest with ink in Moscow

Photo: REUTERS

According to media reports, there were several arsons in polling stations and attacks with paint on ballot boxes with ballot papers on the first day of the sham presidential election in Russia.

A video showed an elderly woman setting a voting booth on fire.

According to the media, the 70-year-old was arrested in Moscow and faces up to five years in prison.

According to the “Fontanka” portal, there was an arson attack on a polling station with a Molotov cocktail in Saint Petersburg.

According to the “Mediazona” portal, a 21-year-old woman carried out the attack.

As the Moscow Times reports, there have been at least three cases of arson across Russia.

Women and men also poured ink into urns in the Rostov region and in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia in the North Caucasus, said the deputy head of the electoral commission in Moscow, Nikolai Bulayev, according to the state news agency Tass.

The aim was therefore to invalidate the ballot papers.

A video circulated on social networks showing a woman - supposedly in Moscow - pouring paint from a bottle into an urn, initially completely unmolested.

The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.

According to the Investigative Committee, a criminal case was opened against the woman in Moscow in connection with an “incident at a polling station.”

The suspect poured a “coloring substance” into a ballot box.

Rumors about Ukrainian Telegram channels

It was initially unclear whether the women wanted to protest against the “election”.

There was initially little information on Friday about the exact background to the attacks on polling stations and ballot boxes; in some cases there was talk of Ukrainian Telegram channels allegedly playing a role.

What is striking is that it is women in particular who have committed them.

As the civil rights organization OWD-Info wrote, these cases at polling stations are reminiscent of the stories of telephone fraud, when elderly people in various cities of Russia carried out arson attacks on military authorities and bank branches, persuaded and pressured by false promises such as loan repayment .

In this case too, OWD-Info speaks of “possible provocations”.

Bulayev accused the perpetrators of acting on behalf of others.

"It's clear they were promised money, a reward," he said.

Russia repeatedly accuses Western states of wanting to influence the vote.

Opposition members had called for quiet protests

Protests are banned in Russia.

Opposition members around Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in custody, had called for a protest election.

However, they advised quiet protest and also pointed out the risk of being arrested and punished.

It was said that ballot papers in the booth could be invalidated by ticking several candidates.

Previously, the returning officer Ella Pamifilowa, a former human rights activist and now a close confidante of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, had also called for vigilance at the polling stations and handed out votes against people who tried to sabotage the sham vote.

»It's about the same kind of scumbags who blow up train tracks and blow people up for 10,000 rubles (100 euros).

"You're willing to sell anything for a penny of blood," she complained.

The so-called election lasts until Sunday evening, when the last polling stations in Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg) on ​​the Baltic Sea close at 7 p.m. CET.

The first forecasts are expected immediately afterwards.

Results will only be available on Monday night.

According to the electoral commission, around 114 million people are called to vote.

The so-called “election” is not a free vote.

Although there are other candidates than Putin, they are loyal to the system.

A real rival is not allowed to vote.

Most of Putin's political opponents are in prison, in exile - or dead, like Alexei Navalny.

Putin is also investing hundreds of millions of euros to influence his own population

(read more on the subject here).

The Kremlin ruler has ruled since 2000 as president, prime minister and again as president.

Under his aegis, Russia has become a dictatorship.

col/dpa