Russian elections: Attacks at polls; UN, EU condemn vote

Angry Russians with no political choices beyond incumbent President Vladimir Putin acted out in frustration Friday, causing disruptions at polling stations as voting got under way across the nation.

Several incidents were reported Friday and a number of individuals were arrested.

Ballot boxes, for instance, were attacked by voters who dumped dye into them, a reference to deceased former opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who was attacked with such dye by Putin supporters in 2017.

Navalny, who died under mysterious circumstances in a Siberian penal colony in February, was one of several individuals disqualified from campaigning against Putin, who has ruled the country since 1999.

Other incidents of vandalism included two women attacking separate polling stations with Molotov cocktails, at least one incident of ballot boxes being set on fire inside a Moscow polling station and another incident in which a man was arrested for setting off fireworks inside a polling station in the Urals.