Russian emigres in Armenia stand in line to vote against Putin

At least a thousand anti-Kremlin Russian emigres queued for hours outside their embassy in Armenia on Sunday, waiting to cast ballots in a presidential election they admit they have little chance of influencing.

A more than one-kilometer-long queue snaked through the streets around the large embassy complex in central Yerevan, where voting was being held. 

All those who spoke to Reuters said they had come to register their opposition to Vladimir Putin and his policies.

"The president will be elected without us," said Kirill, a Russian living in Armenia who did not give his surname.

Armenia, which allows Russians to stay without a visa, became one of the most popular refuges for Russians opposed to the Kremlin as political repression and conscription ramped up after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Allies of Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader who died in an Arctic penal colony last month, had asked his supporters in Russia and abroad to come to the polls at midday on Sunday in a show of strength.

They recommended that supporters either spoil their ballots or vote for one of the three nominal opposition candidates permitted to run.

Many of those queuing to vote said that they hope to return to their homeland one day, even as Putin is set to receive another six-year term in office.

Reuters