Day 2 of Russian elections, President Vladimir Putin's rule sure to continue

Voters across Russia cast ballots Saturday on the second day of an election set to formalize six more years of power for President Vladimir Putin, who faces no serious challengers. 

He has crushed political dissent over his nearly quarter-century of rule.

The election comes against the backdrop of a ruthless crackdown that has stifled independent media and prominent rights groups. Putin's fiercest foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison in February, and other critics are either in jail or in exile.

The 71-year-old Putin faces three token rivals from Kremlin-friendly parties who have refrained from any criticism of him or his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin has cast his war in Ukraine, now in its third year, as an existential battle against the US and other Western powers bent on destroying Russia.

Officials said that voting was proceeding in an orderly fashion. But despite tight controls, at least a half-dozen cases of vandalism at polling stations were reported Friday and Saturday, including a firebombing and several people pouring green liquid into ballot boxes. The latter was an apparent homage to Navalny, who in 2017 was attacked by an assailant splashing green disinfectant in his face.

Russian state news agency Tass said a woman in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg Saturday tried to unsuccessfully throw green liquid into a ballot box, while a retiree in the Altai region in southern Siberia attempted to damage ballots. Both were detained.

Following reports of vandalism, Russian lawmakers suggested introducing a new law to punish election saboteurs with sentences of up to eight years in prison.

Also on Saturday, Ukrainian drone and missile attacks once again hit deep inside the country. Tass said that an armed group also tried to penetrate Russia's border region from Ukraine.

Two people were killed in Ukrainian shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, ordering shopping centers and schools to shut down because of the security situation. Meanwhile, local officials denied reports of explosions at polling stations in the border city, Tass said.

Dozens of people have been killed in Belgorod since the war began.

Russia's opposition movement has urged those unhappy with Putin or the war to show up at the polls at noon Sunday, the final day of voting, as a form of protest. The strategy was endorsed by Navalny not long before his death.

Voting is taking place at polling stations across Russia's 11 time zones, in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine, and online.

Western leaders have derided the vote as a travesty of democracy.

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