On March 15, it became a historic day for Russia, as voting began in the presidential election, which will take place for the first time for three days, lasted from March 15 to March 17.
Late on the evening of March 14, Kyiv time voting in the east of Russia - in Chukotka and Kamchatka.
The precincts were also opened in the occupied territories of Ukraine - in Russia -controlled Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as in the Crimea. The locals reported coercion to vote. Ukraine and the West declare that such illegal elections violate international law and their results will not be recognized.
Vladimir Putin, who has been managing Russia since 2000, has been running for the fifth term. Opposition candidates were not allowed to vote.
Many commentators consider Putin's victory, who actually controls all the levers of power in Russia, practically resolved. The media previously reported that the Presidential Administration intends to provide Putin with a victory with a result of not less than 80% for high turnout. A recent VCIM State Agency survey has shown that at least 75% of respondents are ready to vote for Putin.
The last presidential elections in Russia were evaluated by independent observers and experts as free and dishonest. According to their statements, the authorities interfere with the electoral process, creating the benefits of pro -government candidates, and even cases of direct falsification have been recorded. There are no independent international observers in the presidential election, and observation opportunities for Russian citizens are seriously limited.
The Russian opposition caused all of Putin's distrustful to the polling stations on March 17 at 12 o'clock, thus expressing his unofficial protest, and either vote against Putin for any of the three other candidates, or specially damaged the ballot. In this way, according to the initiators of the action, Putin's opponents will show their resistance without violating the current legislation of the Russian Federation.
In response, the Russian prosecutor's office threatened with criminal liability for “obstruction of free exercise by citizens of their suffrage and the work of election commissions”.
The widow of Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny, Julia, in the column of the newspaper The Washington Post called on the West countries not to recognize the results of the election of the President of Russia and not to consider Vladimir Putin a legitimate head of state.
A number of deputies of the European Parliament and other politicians also called on not to recognize the results of the election of the President of Russia and, accordingly, the legitimacy of Putin. They indicate both the voting in the occupied territories and the approved amendments to the Constitution, which allow Putin to run for the fifth period. Western leaders did not speak about the possibility of non -recognition of elections in the Russian Federation.
The fact that Ukraine does not recognize the election of the President of Russia, because there is no election in the country for a long time, "said Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Alexei Danilov in a comment to the Radio Liberty.
