Fire, ink, Noon against Putin: How Russians resisted illegitimate elections

Russia's three-day presidential vote 2024 seemed to be the most non-transparent in its history. Authorities changed legislation to prevent any oversight of the procedure, while independent observers and activists were subjected to pressure, threats, arrests and torture.

Despite this, many Russians went to the polls at noon on 17 March, agitating to vote against Putin. Resistance to the illegitimate elections served as a way not only to express their civic position but also to support each other and express grief and despair.

In this article, we provide an overview of the civic resistance at polls during the voting days.

TIGHTENING OF THE SCREWS BEFORE THE ELECTION

In the run-up to the elections, the authorities introduced various measures that made voting non-transparent. For example, they forced people to vote online via the e-voting system inaccessible to observers. Employers were compelled to register their employees in the system. In Moscow and the Moscow region, a bot called "Dobrynya" was used to collect personal data, as well as monitor e-voters and turnout at the polling stations. Since 2021, ordinary voters, as well as human rights activists and journalists, cannot access CCTV footage from polling stations: it is available only to election officials and candidates. This, too, obstructed public oversight of the elections.

BOTS AGAINST COERCION

In response to the lack of election monitoring and voter coercion, there have been numerous initiatives that enabled people to anonymously report their vote and provide fake reports to their superiors, while IT-specialists collected and processed voting statistics (but not users' personal data). “Vote Helper”, a bot that forges ballots, has become the most popular way to resist digital repression. This bot is designed for public sector and enterprise workers who were forced to vote for Putin and submit a photo to their boss as proof that they voted. The bot photoshopped the ballot photo and checked the box with Putin's name. This photo could be sent to the employer, enabling employees to vote however they liked. Another app, “DobroStatBot,” collected photos of spoilt ballots or the ones cast in favor of other candidates and posted them anonymously. The "Vote Against" bot also collected such ballots, as well as registered refusals to vote electronically and boycotts of elections at the polling station.

OBSERVATION IN SPITE OF PROHIBITIONS

In the 2024 elections, the authorities tried to remove independent observers and journalists from polling stations. International observers from the OSCE were not invited. In fact, the activities of the main independent election watchdog, the Golos movement, were banned as the authorities have been keeping its co-chairman Grigory Melkonyants in jail since August 2023.

But even under pressure, observers were able to work at polling stations. Pavel Sychev, a Voronezh blogger and author of the "Dissident" Telegram channel, recruited and trained about 100 observers. He reached an agreement with the Communist Party that it would send his observers as its own and thus ensure monitoring of as many polling stations as possible. On the first day of elections, one of Sychev's observers reported an alleged ballot box stuffing. Voronezh authorities called the report a fake and an "information attack by pro-Western and pro-Ukrainian resources”. The Center for Combating Extremism officially warned Sychev against violating the law.

It was independent observers who were able to document possible ballot stuffing in the Krasnodar region. They also insisted on Putin’s portraits being removed from several polling stations.

ELECTION 'BURIAL' AND OTHER PERFORMANCE

Some Russians used artistic expression to protest illegitimate elections. A black cross with a sign reading "Elections in Russia" appeared in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Region, on the first day of the election. Members of the National Bolshevik party "The Other Russia" installed the memorial on a square near the electoral commission. "Elections [lt]...[gt] as a political phenomenon have perished. Not only are there no worthy candidates, but not even independent ones, the ones we have are so gutless that it's a shame to include them in the ballot”, the activists wrote in their Telegram channel.

Polina Mukhacheva from Kirov laid four carnations at the polling station wall, symbolizing the death of freedom, human rights, opposition and a decent standard of living. She also attached a poster calling to vote against [Putin]. The police detained her and took to the police station.

“If not Putin, then a cat” [The title is a wordplay in a question “If not Putin, who else?” “Kot” (cat) and “kto” (who) differ by one letter in Russian] was one of the most visible initiatives. Its task was to teach how to spoil ballots effectively, i.e. invalidate them. Participants in the initiative created videos featuring cats, made instructions, memes and stickers to attract voters' attention.

The movement "Udmurtia against Corruption" together with Udmurt artist Dmitry Morozov produced a cartoon series with plasticine figures of Putin and Navalny. The short animated clips urged people to come to the polling stations at noon on 17 March and vote against Putin.

INK IN BALLOT BOXES AND ARSONS AT POLLS

In Voronezh region, two women at different polling stations poured dye into the ballot boxes, spoiling the ballots inside. By the evening, these cases had become widespread. In various Russian cities, people poured dye or ink into ballot boxes, set fire to voting machines and polling stations, set off firecrackers and sprayed pungent gas in polling stations. "7x7" has created a map, which shows how widespread these acts of vandalism were.

However, people who poured ink into ballot boxes could have been promised money in return. The administrators of the "Dissident" channel published the story of a woman from Volgograd region, who described a phone call that urged her to bring ink to the polling station. An unknown person promised her 30,000 rubles for spoiling ballots. The woman was detained at the polling station. It is not excluded that these calls came from Ukrainian intelligence. Alexandra Arkhipova, social anthropologist, suggests another reason for such mass actions besides fraud: "It is a ritual gesture of despair when people don't know how else they can show that they feel trapped in a vicious circle and there is no way out”.

Damaging ballots may seem like a new way of resistance, but Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chairman of the Golos movement, and his colleagues recall that the movement recorded cases of arson during the voting on constitutional amendments in 2020. Andreychuk believes such acts "are produced by the enormous tension and the aggression in society, something the Russian authorities bear responsibility for".

NOON AGAINST PUTIN: PROTESTERS COME TOGETHER

Voters experienced mounting pressure starting from the first days of election campaigning, which reached its peak during the protest action Noon against Putin. The idea to protest at Noon against Putin was first expressed by Maxim Reznik, a former deputy of the St. Petersburg City Council and the European Petersburg movement. They called on people to come to the presidential election on the last day of voting on 17 March at noon to show solidary and prevent rigging. The protest was supported by, among others, Alexei Navalny, Ekaterina Shulman, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The protest served to demonstrate that there is opposition to Putin and allow like-minded people to see each other.

The authorities tried to prevent the event, labeling it extremist. Police handed out warnings to activists. Spring fairs to distract attention were organized near the polling stations in several regions of Russia. However, at noon on March 17, people lined up at polling stations in many Russian cities. The protest did not go unnoticed by the security forces. Detentions took place in Kazan, where law enforcers banned people from entering the polling station at the university and detained at least 29 people. According to OVD-Info, 19 people were arrested in Moscow, seven in St. Petersburg, and three people in Volgograd, Chelyabinsk and Ryazan each.

REMEMBRANCE OF NAVALNY

The election became an opportunity to express one's protest, honor the memory of Alexei Navalny and other murdered politicians, and support political prisoners. The photos of the ballots published by Voice Against include expressions of hatred for the "murderer" Putin and words of support for political prisoners, votes for the politician's widow Yulia Navalny and murdered Boris Nemtsov, for Boris Nadezhdin and Ekaterina Duntsova, calls for peace and lines from the songs by "blacklisted" anti-war artists.

IS THE PROTEST OVER?

As expected, largest protests took place abroad, not in Russia. At noon on 17 March, kilometer-long queues lined up at embassies and protest rallies were held near them. Political repression in Russia, degradation of the system of law and judicial procedure, impunity of law enforcers and massive corruption have resulted in a situation that absolute majority of people remaining in Russia, even those who are explicitly anti-war and anti-Putin, do not risk openly expressing protest.

Nevertheless, as the past elections have also shown, there are still many such people, and they will continue their silent resistance. Yulia Navalnaya is calling on them to do so. In her address to the Russians, she said: "This election is over - but nothing is over. On the contrary, we have to pull ourselves together and work as well as ever. Alexei had a great formula - 15 minutes of fighting the regime a day. That's our goal. To spend at least those 15 minutes every day to write a couple lines, talk to someone, change someone's mind, and ultimately conquer your own fear. Not to dismiss work because it doesn't immediately lead to results, but to have patience and move forward".