The first day of voting in Russia’s presidential election was marred by acts of vandalism at polling stations Friday, with a series of disruptions including dye being poured into ballot boxes.
Reuters reports that a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a polling station in President Vladimir Putin’s home town, and reported cyber attacks with at least nine arrests for pouring dye into ballot boxes and arson attacks.
Vladimir Putin is set to secure another six years in the Kremlin after a three-day vote he has cast as a show of Russians’ loyalty and support for his military assault on Ukraine, now in its third year.
Despite authorities warning that election-day protesters faced heavy punishment, at least nine were arrested for acts of vandalism at polling stations.
In Moscow, a video showed a woman setting a voting booth alight, filling a polling station with smoke, while another showed a woman pouring green dye into a ballot box.
According to the report, four others in the Russian regions of Voronezh, Karachay-Cherkessia and Rostov were detained for similar offences, while in Saint Petersburg and the Siberian region of Khanty-Mansi, women were detained for throwing Molotov cocktails at polling stations.
A man was detained for lighting fireworks inside a polling station in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk, while in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, an explosive device was detonated at a voting site.
Millions of Russians cast their ballots across the country’s 11 time zones at the start of a three-day election that is almost certain to hand Putin six more years at the helm of the world’s largest country by territory