Polls have opened in the first of three days of voting in Russia’s presidential election. With all his main opponents either jailed, dead, or disqualified from running, it's almost certain that Vladimir Putin will once again become president for another term. 

Moscow

Russian forces have invaded Ukraine from land, air and sea with strikes causing widespread damage. Global leaders have condemned the move and imposed sanctions.

Ukraine Invasion

Voting has commenced in Russia as part of a three-day presidential election process. This electoral event is significant as it determines the leadership for the next term. The context of this election is marked by the absence of substantial opposition, with key figures who could have contested against the incumbent president either incarcerated, deceased, or ineligible to participate due to disqualification.

Given the circumstances surrounding the election, it is widely anticipated that Vladimir Putin will secure another term as president. The unavailability of formidable opponents positions Putin in a favorable stance to win, reinforcing his prolonged tenure in office.



Voting opens in Russia, Putin certain to win

Polls have now opened in the Russian presidential election and we're outside the Russian embassy in Lithuania where voting is taking place. This is of course a country where so many political exiles live, politicians, political activists, journalists and the like who can no longer live in their country, including the team of Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption foundation who are based here in Vilnius. Now one of those political exiles is a guy called Roman Udot. He has been monitoring elections in Russia for over 20 years and I spoke to him earlier and he said that already he has come across evidence of ballot box stuffing in the early hours of the election and he said the whole system there is corrupt. Let's start with the ugliest thing, they kill opponents, they put them in jail, they drive them in exile. So that they don't let them run, the far east regions began to vote several hours ago and already we have footage, we have photos of ballot box stuffing. There are a growing number of voices saying not only is this election fraudulent but afterwards when President Putin assumes another six year term that that leadership should be considered illegitimate by the West. One of the reasons is voting is taking place currently on the occupied areas of Ukraine that Russia has illegally annexed. Alena Hlivko is a former Ukrainian MP, she said Western leaders should take the lead on this and declare Putin's presidency illegitimate. If the Western governments recognise those elections as fair, free and legitimate, where they will force occupied territories and civilians in those areas to go vote in the sham election, it means de facto Western governments recognising Ukrainian territories now being part of Russia and we can't possibly let that happen. The polls are open for three days and Navalny's team are calling for Russian voters to turn up at polling stations like this one and inside Russia on Sunday in the middle of the day. They're calling it noon against Putin and they're hoping it will send a message to President Putin. They oppose his leadership and his war in Ukraine. For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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Ukraine Invasion