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Polling station in Moscow: Protest against Putin has been announced for Sunday
Photo: Maxim Shipenkov / EPA
They are accused of “extremist ideas” and should take part in the election “calmly” – “without queues and provocations”.
According to media reports, people who were critical of Putin received these warnings on their cell phones.
The independent portal Meduza, for example, published screenshots of messages sent to readers from Moscow on Saturday.
Russia is in the middle of the presidential election, which began on Friday and runs until Sunday evening.
The election is considered completely undemocratic and serves to maintain Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin's power in the middle of the war that Russia is waging against Ukraine.
Russian opposition members had therefore called on people to take part in an act of resistance: they should show up at their polling stations on Sunday at exactly 12 noon.
It is hoped that the long queues will reflect the discontent in the country.
Russian authorities, on the other hand, threatened to prosecute protest participants in advance;
They claimed that the action showed “signs of extremist activity.”
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The messages shown also say: "Regardless of the fact that you support the ideas of extremist organizations, we are pleased that you will vote in Moscow." Who is behind the messages sent on Telegram and Signal and how the recipients were selected were initially not known.
Already on the first day of voting on Friday, isolated protests could be observed in the huge country with its eleven time zones.
In some polling stations, men and women poured paint into the ballot boxes or even set small fires.
A video showed an elderly woman setting a voting booth on fire.
According to media reports, 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.
There have been at least six cases of arson across Russia.
abl/Reuters