Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who is serving a prison sentence in a colony in the Vladimir region, has called on Russians to take part in the presidential election and vote against Vladimir Putin in it. The message appeared on his social media accounts.

“Any election, even the most fake, is a time of doubt. People think about who is in power and why they are there. The main task of the Russian opposition, the task of all honest citizens is to answer these doubts with all their might. To talk. To explain that 71-year-old Putin, who has been in power for 24 years, should not stay for another six years. It will hurt Russia. He must go,” the opposition politician’s blog reads.

Navalny’s team also announced that giant posters reading “Russia, Happy New Year” were put up in some Russian cities, with QR codes linking to the initiative’s website “Russia without Putin”.

The Moscow Directorate of Mass Media and Advertising has banned outdoor advertising distributors from placing billboards with QR codes. This is reported by the RBC media group, which has at its disposal the relevant document sent to the advertising companies.

The document states that a QR code leads to online resources, which contain “various content that may change with use.” Moscow authorities fear that in this way QR codes may contain information that violates the law “On Advertising”.

According to the Sota website, the giant posters have already gone down in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It even publishes photos showing crews taking down the giant posters. Irina Cheplinskaya, a spokeswoman for outdoor advertising operator Russ Outdoor, told RTVI television that initially the code on the posters referred to a Russian-wide competition dedicated to the New Year. “Then the code was apparently replaced. The posters have been taken down,” she noted.

Anti-Corruption Front (FBK) director Ivan Zhdanov said he would demand compensation for the damaged posters.

Leonid Volkov, another close associate of Navalny, wrote in X that “Our campaign is pro-Russia and for Russia. That’s why they also do it on the streets of Russian cities (it wasn’t that easy!).

Along with this advertising campaign, Navalny’s team launched the website “Russia without Putin”, which lists the possible ways of conducting anti-Putin politics. Navalny’s associates say that “every active citizen” in the next 100 days until the election should aim to convince at least 10 people “to vote against Putin.”

The Federation Council of the Russian Parliament yesterday set the date of the presidential elections in Russia for March 17, 2024.