Tens of thousands of Russians called for a ‘Noon against Putin’ on Sunday, in a protest in Moscow following the re-election of Vladimir Putin as Russian president for a third term seen as uncontested. Protests led by supporters of the murdered opponent of Putin, Alexei Navalny Despite appalling weather the whole day, residents of Russia and many other countries flocked to the polling stations as protesters followed the slogan ‘’vote at 12:00 noon’’ given by the opposition.
While the Kremlin tried to convey the image of solidarity with Putin, unified in support of the Sochi Olympics, the coordinated actions demonstrated another level of internal dissent in some of the Russian regions. Navalny’s associates posted photo and videos on the social networks to show people voting in the Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg. Some protesters were dressed in black to symbolize mourning for democracy while others carried flowers to honor Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony last month under unclear circumstances.
The goal of the action called “Noon Against Putin” was to draw attention and produce a massive protest, although it remained a purely virtual one because rallies have been effectively prohibited in Russia. It encouraged people to gather at poling stations at specific time, and this created congestion which could only be dispersed by causing an interuption to the voting exercise.
Because of the size of the country and censorship, it is difficult to estimate the number of protesters, However, the opposition said that these actions are the largest since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Not surprisingly, the Kremlin largely dismissed the protests, with Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov referring to them as a “flop” and a “NATO-backed attempt by radicals.”
The protests notwithstanding, Putin’s victory had never been in question. Due to most actual opposition contenders either imprisoned, sent to exile or denied their candidacies, Putin was up against only light competition in the form of other approved Kremlin candidates. In the first preliminary reports, he gained more than 80% of the votes, which would be an absolute record in his statistics.
It was criticized by other international organizations and western states that could only recognize one opponent to Saakashvili, pervasive accusations of vote rigging, voter pressure, numerous reports of voting in occupied territories of Ukraine. In the response to the protests after the election, the U.S. State Department said one the election “took place in an environment of intense repression of independent voices and civil society.”
Meanwhile, Putin rehearses for another six years in the Kremlin, and possibly until 2030, which provokes questions about the future of Russia. The two sides in the conflict in Ukraine appear to be stuck in a stalemate as no clear winner has emerged for now; meanwhile, the West’s sanctions are clearly hurting Russia economically. The Russian president, Putin has over the recent past relied on China for its economic and diplomatic support thus creating a worrying sight of a deepening alliance of authoritarian regimes.
For now, none the less, it looks like the Kremlin has retained its hold on power via repression, propaganda, and the unifying impact of the confrontation with the West. Nevertheless, the “Noon Against Putin” protests make it clear enough that some people are still willing to take to the streets despite the carrions and forcible detentions. When Russia moves into another Putin term, the world will be observing the impacts of this isolationism and whether Sunday’s protests are the start of a tougher future or simply a blip on the roadmap to 2012.
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