“Non-elections” have taken place in Russia for three days, being a symbolic and formal confirmation of the fact that Putin will rule this country until death, with falsified figures, protest flashmob meeting and also provocations that seem to be organized by the FSB. Let’s examine them in detail:

Falsified figures

For the first time, the polling stations in Russia’s presidential election are open for three days instead of one day and electors can vote online in 29 regions. This fact was criticized by independent election observers, who stated that these changes can undermine transparency of the electoral process. The election also includes the voting in Crimea and other regions that were illegally annexed by Russia, as well as in Transnistria, despite international condemnation.

Results - 3 million votes cast immediately after the opening of polling stations. First day of voting, Friday, a working day - over 38%, while Saturday, a rest day - only 20%, dubious, right? However, these figures are not verifiable and even Russian experts say that they do not show the reality.

What is happening in Transnistria?

Local propagandists report kilometer-long rows and videos show citizens, especially older ones, humbly standing in the line. But the figures do not impress. Until 2 o’clock on Sunday, about 21,000 voters cast their ballots. With such a tempo, the turnout of voters should be comparable to that of Russia’s Duma elections in which about 50,000 people from Transnistria voted. The question remains, where are the 250,000 Russian citizens from there, but this figure comes from the same sources from which Putin’s rating comes.

We also see some suspiciously organized lines at the Embassy of the Russian Federation, but local pro-Russian activists probably don’t really know the context and the row coincided or was organized around noon - fitting the “Noon against Putin” protest.

Noon against Putin

In Russia, thousands of people joined the midday protest against Putin and lined up to express their disagreement with his policies at 12 noon. Impressive rows in big cities, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, but fewer in small towns, where the police more effectively “convinced” the people not to protest.

The result - according to OVD INFO - about 50 people detained throughout Russia, large-scale protests in European capital cities and, of course, the lack of reaction on the part of the Russian authorities.

Provocations and possible false flag operations

However, not all the citizens of the Russian Federation protest peacefully. There were attempts to set fire to eight polling stations, destroy ballot papers and an incident in which an attempt was made to use smoke bombs to disrupt the electoral process.

What unites a number of cases of this kind are detained persons’ assertions that they were persuaded by unknown persons by phone to make these provocations for various reasons, either that they were told they will have their loans repaid, were made promises of benefits or warned that personal data from polling stations will reach the Ukrainian authorities. Such schemes lead us to the idea that such incidents can be organized by the FSB to justify the intensification of repression or to blame the Ukrainians.

The incident in Chisinau, where a 54-year-old man threw an improvised Molotov cocktail over the fence of the Russian embassy without causing any damage, matches the same series. The person was detained, but the question is, whether he is not also one of those who were voluntarily or involuntarily used to show how Russophobic the Republic of Moldova really is. The authorities reacted promptly and protected first of all those who were near the embassy, our citizens.

We strongly condemn the use of violence and are waiting for the results of the investigation.

Conclusion

These Putin’s “non-elections” show that he does not care about the voice of his own voters whom he brings in an organized way to vote in the absence of an alternative. He will continue his imperial scenario most probably until death, while for us the European integration is the only way not to become his next victim.

Andrei Curăraru is a politics and elections, security, justice and law expert at WatchDog.md Community.