Vladimir Putin is seeking to be re-elected for the fifth time in upcoming president elections scheduled for March 15-17. According to ARTICLE 19, the 2024 presidential election in Russia is marked by a severe crackdown on the political opposition, extreme censorship measures, a lack of fairness and transparency of the electoral process, and repression of dissent and protests. Dissent against President Putin, policies of his government, or the war against Ukraine is brutally repressed through a combination of legal sanctions, growing forms of retaliation, and extreme censorship measures. The right to protest in Russia is under the most severe attack since the fall of the Soviet Union. ARTICLE 19 urges the international community to respond strongly to the gross violations of the right to freedom of expression, the right to protest, and the right to vote in Russia, as well as to the extension of the presidential election to the Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine.

Read ARTICLE 19’s article here.