The Kremlin on Wednesday claimed that the recent presidential election in the country was definitely clean and that President Vladimir Putin’s latest victory was a unique win that holds unprecedented significance.
Those comments were made after many people who oppose Putin’s Russian government accused the Kremlin of rigging the election so Putin would win.
On Tuesday, Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny — the well-known opposition leader who died recently in a Russian prison — said Putin isn’t Russia’s legitimate president. She added that she would attempt to convince other world leaders to not sit down and negotiate with Putin in the future.
The election was held last Sunday, and Putin captured 87.3% of the total vote. While India, China and some other countries congratulated Putin on the victory, many other western nations said the elections weren’t free and fair.
But, the Kremlin stood by its assertions that the elections were fair, doubling down by saying that the results showed that an overwhelming majority of people in the country had consolidated around Putin.
Navalnaya released a video message recently that praised the thousands of people in Russia and other countries for participating in a protest at noon on Sunday against Putin’s continued reign over the country.
As she said in the clip, which was posted to her late husband’s channel on YouTube:
“We have proved to ourselves and others that Putin is not our president. The election results do not matter.
“We will ensure that no one in the world recognizes Putin as the legitimate president, that no one sits down with him at the negotiating table.”
Navalnaya, who is 47 years old, participated in the protests on Sunday in Berlin.
Not long before his death on February 16 at a penal colony in the Arctic, Navalny endorsed the idea of Russian citizens coming together on March 17 at noon to oppose Putin at the polls. They could do so, he said, by registering solidarity with the opposition party or by spoiling their ballots.
In the wake of his death, Navalnaya has vowed that she will continue the work her late husband was doing. She and many of his supporters have said that Putin is directly responsible for her husband’s death, which the Kremlin continues to deny.
It’s not sure how many of the 114 million voters in Russia participated in the protests, which are being called “Noon Against Putin.”
Journalists who work for Reuters report that they saw an increase in how many voters came out to the polls this year at noon, especially for younger people, at polling places in Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Navalnaya has said she has high hopes for the “beautiful Russia of the future,” and that has been buoyed by seeing so many “brave, free, honest people” waiting in line at polling places throughout the country.
As she said in her video message:
“No intimidation or threats have worked. You are stronger than them.”
