A mother and daughter stand forlornly outside the Russian Embassy in London, their eyes red and puffy from crying, their cheeks wet with tears.
The younger woman, in her 40s, lives in the UK full time and wanted to show her elderly mum a makeshift tribute to deceased opposition leader Alexi Navalny which sits defiantly across from the Embassy.
Like everyone who agreed to speak to us, they were too scared to give their names and feared reprisals from the Kremlin.
They stood in silence, paying their respects to the anti-corruption activist and imagining how things might have been different if his name had been on the ballot.
Protesters were too afraid to give their names when interviewed
GB News
“This result” they say, “is the end of hope”.
Flowers and candles started to appear on the railings outside the Guyana High Commission within hours of the jailed opposition leader’s death on February 16 in a Russian prison camp.
Over the last three days of voting more flowers arrived, along with placards urging Russian expats to ‘spoil your vote’ and warning President Putin ‘the Hague is waiting for you’.
They had hoped Navalny’s death aged 47, believed by many to be on the orders of Putin, would spark a wave of opposition that would sweep him out of power. But that never came to pass.
However, Sunday did see huge voter turnout at polling booths around the world with many following the call of Navalny’s widow to arrive en masse at midday in a symbolic show of dissent.
Here in Kensington hundreds of voters arrived forming a queue half a mile long. Many chanted “Putin is a killer” as they waited to spoil their ballot.
The weeping mother and daughter were devastated but not surprised. They blamed systematic ballot rigging and what they call “the old soviet mentality”.
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Many had hoped Navalny’s death would spark a wave of opposition that would sweep him out of power
GB News
“Russians who have not travelled are not culturally aware” they said, “and they believe Putin’s propaganda.”
But one man in his 50s only partly agreed. He told GB News that election interference is unlikely and Putin probably did receive 88 per cent of the votes because “the majority of Russians are zombiefied”.
As an example he mentioned his own father who lives in Russia and supports the current regime.
“He thinks Russians are really fighting Nazis in Ukraine. It’s caused a huge rift between us.”
“Russia is a morally and ideologically bankrupt state.” He continued, “The KGB will be watching us right now.”
He said he’s thinking about giving up his Russian passport in protest, but realised he would probably never see his father again.
Another man in his 30s told GB News Putin still wins elections because some people are “afraid to vote for anyone else.” He mentioned teachers and doctors whose careers are heavily influenced by the state.
Putin claimed he had been about to release Navalny in a prisoner exchange when he suddenly died
GB News
“Many of Putin’s votes will also have come from the older generation” he says. “They remember the lack of food in the 90s and believe it’s better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”
Meanwhile, it seems the ‘Noon for Navalny’ protest has had an impact. Following the election result, Putin held a news conference where he finally broke his silence on his death.
It’s a small indication that the Russian President has finally understood the strength of feeling it provoked.
Describing it as “an unfortunate incident”, Putin claimed he had been about to release Navalny in a prisoner exchange when he suddenly died.
Only one of the Russian expats GB News spoke to was willing to consider that, saying “the conditions are tough in those prisons, anything could have happened.”
But the rest are unconvinced, and when we asked a woman in her 20s why Putin seems so desperate to cling to power she simply said: “He knows he will end up in prison himself.”
Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but for now Putin has assured himself of another six years in power and his opponents have a fallen hero to build their campaign upon.