“SYMBOLIC ACTION”
Images shared on social media by Navalny’s team showed larger queues of voters at other polling stations in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia.
At another polling station in southwest Moscow, Leonid, an 18-year-old student, said there were “not that many people” taking part in the protest but he was “just happy that some people came”.
The polling station in a school was where Navalny scored his highest result – 70 per cent – in his failed bid to become Moscow mayor in 2013.
Navalny later attempted to run against Putin in the 2018 presidential election but his candidacy was rejected.
Olga Mironenko, a 33-year-old IT worker, said she had never voted for Putin but it was difficult to express her views in a country where “you can’t even express your opinion on social media”.
She said it had felt good to come to the polling station and be “with people who are on the side of light and truth”.
Denis, 21, who works in advertising, said: “I came to express solidarity with a very important person. It’s a symbolic action.”
“This election is a way to honour Navalny’s memory,” he said.
Source: CNA
