According to Russia, Putin’s sham election was marred by cyberattacks that caused chaos among online voters.
Websites reportedly crashed across the country due to the attacks, as citizens continued to attack polling stations with paint and Molotov cocktails.
The ruling United Russia party announced earlier in the day that several online polls were facing a widespread denial-of-service attack.
These are designed to slow down a server’s servers by flooding them with requests before causing it to shut down completely and take the computer offline.
United Russia has reportedly suspended all non-essentials in an attempt to thwart cyberattacks.
President Vladimir Putin, 71, is still confident of maintaining his reign of tyranny with the new electoral farce. He accused Ukraine of having already tried to sabotage the elections.
It comes as polling stations across Russia were hit by a wave of fires and paint attacks on Friday.
Russians seem to resist Putin’s terrifying reign over them at polling stations by destroying votes.
Green dye was spilled over a pile of ballot papers, while other videos show ballot boxes set ablaze with Molotov cocktails and even fireworks.
A number of Russians have reportedly been arrested for acts of brave vandalism.
The official Tass news agency reported most of the attacks in Moscow, Voronezh in southern Russia and the Karachay-Cherkessia region in the North Caucasus.
But at least 10 stations have run into problems, according to reports.
A woman was reportedly arrested in Moscow for pouring gallons of paint at a polling place, nullifying all votes.
The images gave the impression of showing the woman slipping a ballot paper into the slot before pouring a green liquid over the contents of the transparent box.
Russian media reported that “a criminal case” had been opened against someone who “poured paint into an urn. “
St. Petersburg’s election government said a woman also threw a Molotov cocktail near a polling station, sparking a fire that was later extinguished.
In another act of protest, a woman gave the impression of spilling a flammable liquid on one of the booths as it ignited.
After taking up position in Moscow, the woman began recording the event on her phone.
Meanwhile, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a polling station in St. Petersburg, local news site Fontanka reports.
Other footage shows a police officer desperately trying to put out a fireplace at a polling station, in an unknown location, as black smoke filled the room.
And foot soldiers reportedly scrawled the so-called “Navalny” on their ballots on behalf of defeated opposition leader, widely regarded as Putin’s fiercest foe, Alexei Navalny.
The Russian opposition leader died in mysterious cases last month while serving a 19-year criminal sentence on trumped-up charges.
Western leaders and members of his camp claim he “assassinated” on Putin’s direct orders.
Also yesterday, it was reported that a middle-aged man emptied dye into a ballot box in Borisoglebsk, a city in the Voronezh region.
There were reportedly three other cases of vote-rigging.
The writing disappears when heated, the pen looks normal. They told everyone to close and supply those pens only from the boxes they had brought.
A 62-year-old man reportedly poured the dye into an urn in Karachay-Cherkessia, while a 62-year-old man did the same in the village of Samarskoye.
Another also poured dye into an urn in occupied Crimea, according to unconfirmed reports.
Russian media outlet Mash reported: “All those arrested for damaging election documents are now being checked to verify their cooperation with Ukrainian special services. “
Some have speculated that the protesters were persuaded to carry out the attacks through phone scammers working for Ukrainian intelligence.
As in the Kursk and Rostov regions, bordering Ukraine, unconfirmed reports also revealed that the missing ink pens had reached voters, allowing the ballots to be forged at a later date.
A source quoted via the pacifist Telegram channel Sirena said: “The inscription disappears when heated, the pen looks normal.
“They told everyone to close and hand over the pens from the boxes they had brought. “
The boxes bore the name of the Central Election Commission, which some say is biased in favor of Putin.
A video purporting to demonstrate the alleged abuse did show a genuine ballot.
The first day of voting has begun and everything is going exactly as we announced. A large number of voters were under pressure.
There are many reports of state workers being “forced” to vote for the Russian tyrant.
In the Urals, some were barred from their polling stations through bloodless procedures and ordered to vote first so they could go to work.
In Barnaoul and other parts of the Altai region, polling station surveillance cameras, intended to combat fraud, were not working.
In the Khorsky agreement, in the Khabarovsk region, a suspicious pile of votes was seen in a ballot box, as if they had been thrown together.
And in Chukotka, voters in Russia’s easternmost region were given pancakes, which can be seen as an incentive to vote.
There have also been reports of abuses, related to the issuance of ballots that allowed election officials to unload their votes to citizens at their homes.
Exiled journalist Dmitry Kolezev, editor-in-chief of Republic, said of the Russian elections: “By the end of the day, at 8 a. m. , the polling stations were already full.
“Employees of the school, administration, fuel and energy sales of the local district were required to vote before working, and they kept a record on the lists of those who voted.
“This has never existed in recent years.
“There is a very transparent order given to the heads of the organizations: that all the workers vote on Friday, the current day.
“So, alas, the symbol of participation will be what they need. “
Stanislav Andreichyuk of the Golos election organisation said: “The first day of voting has started and everything is going exactly as announced.
“A large number of voters were coerced. “
Putin is confident of retaining his job as president, and early predictions from the Kremlin already indicated that Putin would win with around 80% of the vote.
The evil tyrant is running as an independent candidate and has the support of United Russia, as well as thousands of other top Russian officials.
If Putin were to win, as many predict, he could remain in office at least until 2030.
Russia claimed that 37% of the electorate already had their votes, two days before the polls closed.
The other 3 candidates in this mock election recount the entire devastating war in Ukraine.
However, Vladislav Davankov, 40, of the New People’s Party, an organization choreographed by the Kremlin, supported negotiations to end the fighting altogether.
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