Alexei Navalny’s wife calls for Russians to protest on election day

The widow of Alexei Navalny has called for a massive election day protest against Vladimir Putin – saying that the support she has received since his death is proof that the opposition leader’s ideals live on. Yulia Navalnaya – who has accused Putin of killing her husband, the Russian leader’s most prominent critic – said that she had drawn hope from the crowd of thousands that gathered for his funeral last week. Mr Navalny, in one of his last public messages, had urged people to protest against Putin by voting en masse at noon local time in the 17 March presidential election, forming large crowds and overwhelming polling stations. The result of the poll is in little doubt, Putin will be re-elected, but Ms Navalnaya said there was still a choice to be made. “What to do next? The choice is yours. You can vote for any candidate except Putin,“ she said in a video uploaded to YouTube. “You can ruin the ballot, you can write ’Navalny’ in big letters on it. And ev