Text warnings sent to Russians planning to protest elections

Moscow [Russia], March 17: Russian citizens who may be thinking of supporting a planned protest on Sunday during the presidential election have reportedly received warnings on their mobile phones ahead of the event.
The independent news website Meduza, among others, published screenshots of messages sent on Saturday from Moscow to its readers saying: "Regardless of the fact that you support the ideas of extremist organizations, we are pleased that you will be voting in Moscow."
This is followed by an invitation to take part in the election "calmly" and "without queues and provocations." It was not initially known who was behind the messages sent on Telegram and Signal and how the recipients were selected.
The presidential election, which lasts until Sunday evening, is regarded abroad and by some segments of the Russian population as being completely undemocratic and aimed at maintaining Vladimir Putin's grip on power in the midst of Russia's war against Ukraine.
Russian opposition activists have called on people to assemble at their polling stations at 12 pm at their local time on Sunday as part of a resistance action. The massive country has 11 time zones.
It is hoped that the long queues will show the dissatisfaction in the country. Russian authorities, on the other hand, have already threatened to prosecute participants in advance, claiming that the campaign shows "signs of extremist activity." Isolated protests were observed on the first day of voting on Friday, In some polling stations, men and women tipped paint into the ballot boxes or even set small fires. Several arrests were made.
The commission in charge of Russian elections, which are considered neither free nor fair, said its online voting system had malfunctioned on Friday due to the large number of people trying to cast their vote that way.
On the first of three days of voting, some 500,000 people in Moscow alone cast their votes online in the morning, the central election commission said.
Moscow's leadership would like to see the highest possible voter turnout in order to label the vote as legitimate. Officials said turnout had reached 24 percent and that 27 million people had voted by Friday evening. In places, the vote was organized in part like a festival with folk performances and singers.
It is all but certain that Russian President Vladimir Putin, 71, will emerge victorious for the fifth time. Russian state pollsters predict Putin, who has been in power for almost a quarter of a century, will get more than 80 percent of the vote. That would be the highest result ever for him. Putin has three rivals, which lends the election a veneer of credibility. But they not only have no chance, they also hold Kremlin-friendly political views and usually show support for Putin.
Source: Qatar Tribune