MOSCOW: Voting kicked off in Russia on Friday to prolong rule of President Vladimir Putin by six more years, as Ukraine stepped up border attacks.
Officials in Moscow have warned against any protests from March 15-17 during presidential vote, after calls from the opposition for demonstrations on Sunday.
The Kremlin says the vote will demonstrate that the country is fully behind Putin’s war on Ukraine and polling stations have been established in Russian-held territories.
Ahead of the election, Kyiv stepped up its bombardment of Russian regions just across their shared border.
The Russian National Guard said it was countering attacks from pro-Ukrainian militias in Kursk.
Putin in an address to Russians on the eve of the voting he said that Russia is passing through complex challenges in almost all areas.
He said that in order to continue to respond to such attacks with dignity and successfully overcome difficulties, Russians need to be united and self-confident.
Polling started in Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula at 8:00 am local time on Friday and will continue till 8:00 pm on Sunday in Kaliningrad, a Russian territory bordering Poland and Lithuania.
According to western media reports all of Putin’s major critics are dead, in prison or in exile, and authorities also blocked other competitors who tried to stand in the election.
Kyiv launches significant aerial assaults attacks
Kyiv this week has started some of its most significant aerial assaults since the beginning of the two-year war.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that at least three different waves of aerial attacks had killed two people, injured several others.
He blamed Ukraine for trying to sow a seed of discord, distrust, anger and resentment, in an attempt to break the unity of Russian society.
Pro-Ukrainian paramilitaries also claimed to be enhancing attacks and incursions in Russian border regions.
Early voting was already started in occupied territories of Ukraine. The voting will also take place in Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has denounced the voting in Russian-held territories.
He added that the United States will never recognize the legitimacy or result of these sham elections held in sovereign Ukraine.
