BERLIN/YEREVAN: Russians living abroad cast their votes on Sunday, the final day of a parliamentary election, in what many described as a moral duty, if ultimately a futile act of protest against President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine. One exiled Muscovite, who gave her name as Olga, waiting in line to vote in the Armenian capital Yerevan, said she had no expectation her ballot would change anything inside Russia. "It's about putting on a bit of a show," she said. "This is really more about symbolism, about bringing something positive, about solidarity."
The State Duma election, the first since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, is likely to be presented by the Kremlin as evidence of public support for Putin's policies and for a war that is now in its fifth year with no end in sight. Most anti-war candidates were barred from the ballot and the other major parties have consistently voted in line with the ruling United Russia on major issues.
Hundreds of thousands of Russians, many of them young and well-educated, fled the country after the start of the war in Ukraine, settling in ex-Soviet countries like Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan, as well as across Europe and beyond. "We still have our whole lives ahead of us, and we really want to be in Russia one day and help build a new, democratic country," said 24-year-old Varvara from Moscow.
Some protesters outside the Russian embassy in the German capital held up a placard reading, in Russian, "Putin is a murderer and a war criminal", and signs in support of Russian prisoners jailed for speaking out against the war. Many voters expressed deep pessimism about Russia's future, even if the conflict ends soon. Others, including a man who gave his name as Valery, clung to the belief that casting a ballot still mattered. "I want to believe, with every fibre of my being, that we can still make a difference and vote against the ruling authorities," he told reporters.