Dozens of people queuing to cast their ballots at midday as part of a protest mounted on the last day of the Russian presidential elections have been arrested, human rights activists reported.
The OVD-Info human rights media project counted around 50 arrests up to early afternoon, half of them in Kazan, a city on the Volga River some 700 kilometres east of Moscow. Arrests were also reported in Moscow and St Petersburg.
Many of those arrested turned up to vote precisely at noon as part of a "Noon against Putin" protest aimed at signalling opposition to the way the elections have been conducted. Backers of the protest include supporters of Alexei Navalny, the activist who died in a penal colony in the Polar Circle last month.
Some of the arrests did not take place at the voting locations. One activist was detained as she left her home in St. Petersburg, the reports said. Some of those arrested were released soon afterwards.
