Thousands of Russians have defied Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, by turning up at polling stations in a flash mob protest that has wrongfooted the Kremlin.
Photographs from across Russia showed queues snaking out of polling stations in possibly the biggest opposition demonstration in Russia since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.
People smiled as they stood in queues for the midday demonstration called by exiled opposition leaders. Some secretly carried photos of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in a Russian prison last month.
One flash mob participant described his relief at seeing thousands of people standing up to the Kremlin. Another said he had been moved to tears by the silent protests.
When Boris Nadezhdin, an anti-war candidate disqualified by the Kremlin in the run-up to this week’s presidential election, arrived to vote at a polling station in Moscow, he was cheered.