By Lucy Papachristou
LONDON (Reuters) – Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny, stated on Tuesday that Vladimir Putin was not the professional president of Russia and that she would attempt to persuade world leaders to not sit down to barter with him.
Putin received 87.3% of the vote and a brand new six-year time period on Sunday in an election which the West stated was neither free nor honest. China, India and others congratulated him on his victory.
The Kremlin stated the election outcome confirmed that an amazing majority of Russians had consolidated round him.
In a video message, Navalnaya praised the participation of hundreds of individuals throughout Russia and overseas in a midday protest on Sunday in opposition to Putin’s rule.
“We now have proved to ourselves and others that Putin just isn’t our president,” Navalnaya stated within the clip posted to her late husband’s YouTube channel.
“The election outcomes don’t matter… We are going to make sure that nobody on the earth recognises Putin because the professional president. That nobody sits down with him on the negotiating desk,” she stated.
It was not clear the place the clip was filmed. Navalnaya, 47, took half in Sunday’s protest motion from Berlin.
Shortly earlier than his demise in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, Navalny had endorsed the thought of Russians popping out at midday on March 17 to vote in opposition to Putin, spoil their ballots or just register their solidarity with the opposition.
Yulia Navalnaya has vowed to proceed her husband’s work. She and Navalny’s supporters say Putin is chargeable for his demise, a declare denied by the Kremlin.
Putin stated on Sunday he had given his assent a number of days earlier than Navalny’s demise to permit him to be exchanged in a prisoner swap, given that he by no means returned to Russia.
Requested in regards to the midday protest, Putin stated he might solely reward what he stated appeared to have been an opposition enchantment to folks to go and vote.
‘NOON AGAINST PUTIN’
There was no impartial tally of what number of of Russia’s 114 million voters took half within the “Midday Towards Putin” protests.
Reuters journalists in Russia noticed a rise within the stream of voters, particularly youthful folks, at midday at some polling stations in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, with queues of a number of hundred folks and even hundreds.
Some stated they had been protesting whereas others stated they had been merely voting.
Navalnaya stated her hopes for the “lovely Russia of the longer term” – her husband’s phrase – had been buoyed by the sight of “courageous, free, sincere folks” queuing on the polling stations.
“No intimidation or threats have labored. You’re stronger than them,” she stated.
Nevertheless, the election has confirmed Putin’s domination of Russian politics. Russia’s opposition is riven with divisions about technique and beliefs, whereas Putin’s principal surviving opponents are both in jail or in overseas exile.
Navalnaya informed her supporters to not despair and urged folks to spend quarter-hour a day “preventing the regime”.
“We want a peaceable, free and blissful Russia. And we will certainly be capable to obtain this if we act collectively. Do not quit.”
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Modifying by Gareth Jones)
