In the middle of the presidential election, Putin promises a response to attacks on Russian soil

Vladimir Putin promised Friday that Russia would respond to Ukrainian air attacks on its soil, while believing that recent ground incursions by pro-Ukraine fighters were aimed at destroying Ukraine. "disturb" the progress of the presidential election dedicated to re-read it triumphantly.

At the same time, at least thirteen people were arrested for damage to polling stations, acts for which the precise motives were not made public.

Vladimir Putin, who voted online on Friday, on the first day of the vote intended to re-elect him for 6 years, assured that the Ukrainian strikes against Russian territory, which have intensified in recent days, would not go “unpunished”.

Meanwhile, at least 20 people were killed and 70 injured in one of the worst Russian missile attacks on Odessa, the major southern port city. 'Ukraine has already been targeted twice in recent days.

Also on Friday, the Russian army also said it had repelled multiple land incursions by fighters since March 12 from Ukraine, admitting having had to resort to artillery and aviation.

A voter votes in the Russian presidential election, March 15, 2024 in Moscow © AFP – Alexander NEMENOV

These attacks constitute an “attempt to disrupt the presidential election”, denounced Mr. Putin.

The vote which takes place from Friday to Sunday should see the master of the Kremlin reappointed for an additional mandate of six years, the opposition having been eradicated.

However, it does not go off without a hitch.

– Incidents –

A woman was arrested after setting fire to a voting booth in Moscow, according to media reports Russians, while a second, aged 20, tried to throw a Molotov cocktail at a polling station in St. Petersburg, according to a local official.

Soldiers come to vote in the Russian presidential election, March 15, 2024 in Moscow © AFP – NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA

One person was arrested for trying to set fire to a ballot box in Khanty-Mansisk in Siberia and another for trying to light a firecracker at a polling station in the Chelyabinsk region, not far from the Ural Mountains.

Six people were also arrested for pouring dye into ballot boxes near the Russian capital, in Siberia and in the Voronezh regions ( west), Rostov-on-Don (southwest) and Karachay-Cherkessia, in the Caucasus.

The head of the electoral commission, Ella Pamfilova , claimed that these people were acting for money promised by “bastards, from abroad”.

In the occupied part of the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, a bomb exploded without causing any casualties in front of a polling station, local authorities denounced, while UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned “the efforts of the Russian Federation with a view to organizing its presidential election in the regions of Ukraine “illegally” placed under its control.

The Moscow prosecutor's office warned on Thursday against any protest action, no criticism or opposition being tolerated in Russia.

– No opposition –

Russian President Vladimir Putin votes online in the presidential election, from the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence near Moscow, March 15, 2024 © POOL – Pavel Byrkin

On the eve of the presidential election, Vladimir Putin, 71 years old including 24 in power, urged his compatriots not to “deviate from the path” in these “difficult” times, an allusion to the consequences of the the assault he launched against Ukraine more than two years ago.

The outgoing president faces three candidates without scope who oppose neither the offensive in Ukraine nor the repression which eradicated all opposition and culminated with the death in prison in mid-February of Kremlin critic Alexeï Navalny.

Opposition to Vladimir Putin © AFP – Valentin RAKOVSKY, Sabrina BLANCHARD

Yulia Navalnaïa, who vowed to continue her husband's fight, for her part called on Russians to protest by voting for any of the candidates except Putin.

She also asked Russians supporting the opposition to go to the polling stations at the same time, Sunday at 12:00 p.m. (09:00 GMT), to show that there are many of them.

– “Everything is a bit wrong” –

Voting began at 8:00 a.m. local time on Friday (8:00 p.m. GMT Thursday) on the peninsula of Kamchatka and Chukotka, two remote regions of the Russian Far East. It will end on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT) in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave bordering European Union countries.

In a Moscow school, Lioudmila, a 70-year-old retiree, says she wants above all “victory” in Ukraine. For her, this means voting for Vladimir Putin.

But for Nadjeda, 23 years old, “the fact that I am here will not change anything”: “Around me, we are all used to the idea that everything is already decided for us, we cannot nothing to do about it,” says this young Moscow ballerina, refusing to give her last name. “It's all a bit wrong.”

Putin's longevity in power © AFP – Olivia BUGAULT, Laurence SAUBADU, Sabrina BLANCHARD

With this election, Vladimir Putin will remain in power until 2030 and will be able to run again to remain in charge until 2036, the year he turns 84.

He had the Constitution revised for this purpose in 2020.

The President of the European Council Charles Michel as for him “congratulated” with irony on Friday Mr. Putin “for his overwhelming victory in the elections which begin today”.

The United States also criticized the vote and Ukrainian diplomacy urged the international community to reject this “farce”.

– Armed incursions –

Ukraine has increased military pressure on the Russian border regions of Belgorod and Kursk, targeted by a multitude of drone attacks and incursions by military units made up of Russians opposed to the Kremlin.

A voter votes in the Russian presidential election, March 15, 2024 in Belgorod © AFP – STRINGER

A civilian was killed and two others wounded in Belgorod in a Ukrainian bombardment, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, who said earlier that a fighter had also died in another strike.

At the same time, drone attacks are increasing in the border regions but also hundreds of kilometers from the front, Ukraine having promised retaliation for the bombings it has been suffering for more than two years.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron displayed their “unity” on Friday on aid to this country, after weeks strong tensions over the strategy to adopt against Moscow, during a summit with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

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