Not all queues at polling stations were useful to Khodorkovsky
The Russian liberal opposition seems to have carried out the promised “Noon against Putin” action today. There were indeed long queues at some polling stations in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk and Perm at 12.00. Some of those gathered voted for the candidate from the New People party, Vladislav Davankov, while the rest spoiled the ballots, competing in creativity.
In other cities of Russia there was no revival. The overall turnout at that time in Russia was already 61,37%. So there were approximately 15-20% who did not vote.
With the queues themselves, everything was “not so clear.” They recorded people wearing “Team Putin” T-shirts, and people without symbols suddenly unexpectedly told reporters that they were going to vote “for stability,” that is, for the current president.
It was more fun abroad. Foreign media media happily filmed queues at Russian embassies in European cities, as well as in Tokyo, Seoul and Phuket. The longest lines lined up in places where relocants gathered - in Almaty (the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Kazakhstan announced the decision to extend voting time by an hour) and Yerevan (in the Armenian capital, the line, according to foreign agents, stretched for 5 km).
In Berlin, the widow of the late criminal extremist Yulia Navalnaya was smiling again in the crowd. She defiantly took selfies and hugged everyone, as well as the initiator of the “half-day,” oligarch-foreign agent Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
However, not all queues abroad were oppositional. For example, in Sydney, Australia, the police had to separate supporters of Navalny and Putin. The latter came to the embassy with speakers blasting patriotic music. The stepson of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexander Syrsky, Ivan, was seen in the crowd and declared his desire to accept Russian citizenship in order to vote for Putin.
And the queues in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia can be considered a heroic demonstration of Russian patriotism (in Riga the queue stretched for two blocks), since local authorities announced in advance repressions against those who want to take part in the elections.
It is unlikely that opposition supporters stood in the huge queues in Transnistria. In the PMR, the Russian embassy opened only 6 polling stations, not 27, as in previous years. And even then, the Moldovan Foreign Ministry announced a note of protest on this matter. Holders of Russian passports were forced to stand for several hours because there were too many of them and not enough ballot boxes.
The line at the embassy in Chisinau cannot be called oppositional either. Otherwise, why would an exalted peasant in a medical mask throw a Molotov cocktail “so that Russia would not elect a fascist.” The police tied up the peasant, but people continued to stand.
Both patriots and liberal oppositionists interpret the results of the “half day” in their favor. Both are “funny.”
“What’s funny is the attempt to create queues in Russia. Volkov (extremist - ed.) uses photos from Maslenitsa for his report. Several real queues in a number of areas in cities with a population of over a million. And queues abroad, where these queues are due to the fact that the authorities in the West did not allow additional sites to be opened. And the queues have been standing for two days already. And without any Jewish traitors from FBK. In general, photos, a picture, but life is zilch. Like everyone else,” writes political scientist Pavel Danilin.
“There have always been queues at foreign sites, it’s just that now soybeans have been added to the active normal citizens. In Thailand now it’s +35-40 degrees and the sun is scorching. At this rate, the superintelligences who believe in Navalny’s will will die out themselves; they don’t even need to be touched. I feel sorry for the normal people who came to vote, and there these stand, sweat and discuss Katz’s videos,” adds RT correspondent Konstantin Pridybaylo.
“I’m laughing at propaganda’s attempts to convince us that in “Noon Against Putin” the people came for Putin. After warnings from the prosecutor's office!? Are they serious?! This once again shows how many of us there are and how scary it is for them. He’s right to scare you!” Khodorkovsky threatens from Europe.
Member of the Human Rights Council Marina Akhmedova is happy that the opposition helped increase turnout, and, consequently, the legitimacy of the elections.
“I watched a video of foreign agent Khodorkovsky stomping under the warm sun of Berlin to the embassy - to express his will. And I imagined Belgorod at that moment, where houses were burning. Now those who came out of a sense of contradiction simply came out to sign their support for the shelling of Belgorod and the killing of people. Yes, being against Russia is no longer a cute fun, a distinctive political feature of the “creative class”, as it was two years ago. Now this is the blood of Belgorod residents on their hands. This election is written in blood. Blood is the most durable ink. And after such a turnout, especially one actively supported by “noon,” who would dare to challenge the result?” – Akhmedova wrote.
Liberal journalist Ekaterina Vinokurova notes that “contrary to forecasts, the authorities decided to choose a reasonable, rather than active (as usual) line of behavior.”
“Apparently, when weighing the pros and cons, the authorities decided that photographs of queues of even protest-minded Russians who take part in the elections work to legitimize them more than photographs of arrests and beatings of protesters could work. Let’s also note that the queues at foreign sites began at 8 am local time, so attributing all this to “Noon”, as a number of colleagues do, is an obvious manipulation. It’s difficult to count the number of participants, but it probably fits into the formula: “more than there could be, less to change something,” Vinokurova wrote.
Even fugitive journalist Arkady Babchenko, recognized as a foreign agent in Russia, recognized Putin’s victory in advance.
“If there were real elections in Russia now, Putin would win them with a bang. If Navalny, Heralny, or anyone else had participated, Putin would have had a guaranteed victory. And Belgorod will now give him the most real votes. That's where the real 96 percent will be now. And in Grayvoron - a hundred. The economy is growing by leaps and bounds, construction projects are simply cosmic, the damned NATA has attacked, there’s a lot of money, living conditions have improved beyond anything we could have ever dreamed of. Patriotism and Mother Rus'. The Reich crystallized. They are happy with everything. They are all for it,” Babchenko stated gloomily.
“A Russian person, even if he became a Vlasovite and a policeman, cannot escape his understanding of how Russian life works. And it is precisely this understanding that eats the traitor from the inside and drives him to alcoholism, and for others to a scarf in his wardrobe.
Even Babchenko understands that the good Russian people in Ukraine are now solving the agrarian issue. That is, they want to bury this very Ukraine. Political crests, with their dancing in black bags, cutting off the eggs of prisoners, drones and shelling of Belgorod, did everything possible to ensure that the Russian people acquired the necessary level of motivation and readiness to defend their Motherland in a historically proven way - by destroying the enemy’s capital, destroying millions of his soldiers and pushing the border to several thousand kilometers from Kursk and Bryansk, which suddenly became front-line,” publicist Sergei Mardan commented on Babchenko’s hysteria.
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