Daily TribuneRussia’s military fends off bomb drones as authorities conduct election
BELGOROD BLAZE This photo posted on Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov’s Telegram account shows a fireman fighting a blaze caused by fresh aerial attacks on the Belgorod region, western Russia, on Sunday, March 17, 2024.
PHOTO VIA AFP
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia said it was targeted by a wave of Ukrainian drones overnight Sunday, as Kremlin critics called for mass protests at polling stations on the final day of elections set to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule.
The three-day vote had already been marred by a surge in fatal Ukrainian bombardment, incursions into Russian territory by pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups and vandalism at polling stations.
Air defenses in eight Russian regions including Moscow shot down 35 unmanned aerial vehicles, one of which sparked a fire at an oil refinery, authorities said.
“Kamikaze drones” also sparked a fire at a polling station in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday, but did not cause any casualties, Moscow-installed official Vladimir Rogov said.
Meanwhile, Russia’s military on Sunday ordered increased firepower and training for the navy to counter the threat of Ukrainian air and naval drones after a series of strikes on its warships.
“There must be training for personnel every day. Training on how to repel attacks from the air and by uncrewed boats,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a statement during a visit to the Black Sea fleet in southern Russia.
Shoigu “ordered the installation of additional firepower, large-caliber machine gun systems to defeat enemy drones,” the defense ministry statement said.
Vote protest
There were repeated acts of protest in the first days of polling, with a spate of arrests of Russians accused of pouring dye into ballot boxes or arson attacks.
Before his death in an Arctic prison last month, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who galvanized mass anti-Putin rallies, urged Russians to protest on Sunday.
His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has reiterated his call in the run-up to the election and said protesters should show up in large numbers at the same time to overwhelm polling stations.
She called for protesters to spoil ballots by writing “Navalny” on them, or vote for candidates other than Putin.
Any public dissent in Russia has been harshly punished since the start of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and there have been repeated warnings from the authorities against election protests.
Russia’s opposition has called on people to head to the polls at midday, in what they hope will be a legal show of strength against Putin.
A Moscow resident in his 20s told Agence France-Presse he would show up at noon to vote in protest, “just to see young supportive faces around... feel some support around me, and see the light in this dark tunnel.”
The man, who declined to give his name for security reasons, said he hoped this would show the authorities “that there are people in this country against the conflict... against the regime.”
The 71-year-old Putin, a former KGB agent, has been in power since the last day of 1999 and is set to extend his grip over the country until at least 2030.
If he completes another Kremlin term, he would have stayed in power longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.
He is running without any real opponents, having barred two candidates who opposed the conflict in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has cast the election as an opportunity for Russians to show they are behind the assault on Ukraine, where voting is also being staged in Russian-held areas.
